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JOHN  REDMOND 

THE    MAN    AND   THE    DEMAND 


J    BIOGRAPHICAL    STUDY   IN  IRISH  POLITICS 


BY 

L.    G.    REDMOND-HOWARD 


WITH    9    ILLUSTRATIONS 
INCLUDING    A    PHOTOGRAVURE    PLATE 


NEW  YORK 

JOHN    LANE    COMPANY 

MCMXI 


Printed  tn  Great  BrttsLin 


122979 


5.  1^ 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

Introduction       ......  v 

I. — Family — Birth — Education   (1857-1880)        .  i 
II. — First    Years    in    Parliament     (1880-1890). 

Public  Life — Election — Colonial  Tours    .  21 

III. — The  Parnell  Crisis  (1890-1893)      ...  51 

IV. — The  Home  Rule  Bill  (1893)           •         •         •  73 

V. — The  Independent  (1893-1900)        .         .         .  100 

VI.— The  New  Leader  (1900)         ....  128 

VII. — John     Redmond     and     the     Conservatives 
(1900-1905).     The    South    African    War — ■ 
His  Loyalty — Devolution      .     .         .         .150 

VIII. — Redmond    and    the    Liberals     (1905-1910). 
I. — The       Education      Bills      and      the 

Catholic  University       .         .             .         .  183 

VIII.  {cotUinued). — II. — The    Devolution    Scheme — 

The  Land  and  the  Lords  (1905-1910)    .      .  204 

IX. — The  Man .  228 

X. — The  Man  and  His  Methods   ....  261 

XL — 'The  Message.    The  Irish  Demand         .         .  289 

XII. — The  Mission  .......  311 

XIIL— The  Present  Position  .....  331 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


John  Redmond 

Photogravure 

Frontispiece 

Strongbow's  Monument 

.     Fact 

ng  page       2 

Charles  Stewart  Parnell    . 

•                      "                      5? 

»       56 

Elisha 

„     128 

A  New  "Make-up"  . 

„     208 

John   Redmond 

■ 

,:         228 

Parliament  House,  Dublin    . 

,:         290 

Henry  Grattan 

„         298 

The  Irony  of  Circumstance 

„         330 

INTRODUCTION 

The  present  volume  is  the  outcome  first  of  a  sincere 
study  of  the  Irish  problem  and  a  wish  to  emphasize 
the  points  of  agreement  rather  than  accentuate  the 
differences  that  separate  the  English  and  the  Irish.  We 
are  rapidly  approaching  the  last  phase  of  Irish  politics. 
And  if  an  apology  for  the  biographical  form  of  the 
study  is  asked  for,  it  is  because  it  was  thought  the 
best  answer  to  Lord  Beaconsfield's  demand  fifty  years 
ago — "  We  want  a  man  who  will  tell  us  what  the 
Irish    problem    really   is." 

That  man  to-day  is  Mr.  John  Redmond,  than  whom 
few  could  be  more  typical  of  that  Irish  demand  which 
has  become  almost  synonymous  with  politics.  It  is  in 
no  sense  an  inspired  or  an  official  work,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  it  was  undertaken  as  a  study  rather  than 
as  a  biography,  that  it  is  intended  more  as  a  per- 
sonification of  the  Irish  problem  than  as  a  personal 
character  sketch. 

It  has  been  written,  therefore,  independently  of  Mr. 
Redmond,   but  at  the  suggestion    of  various   friends  and 


INTRODUCTION 

with  the  kind  assistance  of  many  valuable  helpers  who 
have  known  the  Irish  leader.  In  particular  I  may 
mention  Mr.  Stead,  whose  monograph  I  have  found 
very  valuable,  and  Mr.  Barry  O'Brien,  from  whose  Life 
of  Parnell  he  has  kindly  allowed  me  to  quote. 

1    may    also    mention    Father    Kane,    Mr.    Redmond's 

old    schoolmaster,    Father    F ,    a    school    companion, 

His  Honour  Judge  Barry,  K.C.,  The  Editor  of  the 
Clongownian,  Mr.  Wilfred  Meynell,  and  many  others, 
who  have  supplied  me  with  personal  information,  in 
addition  to  which  I  have  embodied  in  the  work 
impressions  of  my  intimate  relations  with  Mr.  Redmond, 
who  is  my  uncle,  many  years  ago.  His  speeches  and 
his  public  utterances  have,  however,  been  studied  purely 
from  a  political  point  of  view.  Any  analysis  of  the 
Irish  demand  I  thought  would  be  more  authoritative  if 
culled    from  the   common    property   of  the    Press. 

Throughout  I  have  endeavoured  to  keep  two  objects 
in  view. 

The  first  was  to  give  an  exposition  of  the  man  as  he 
appears  in  the  framework  of  his  career,  in  broad  outline 
and  without  entering  into  the  personal  controversies 
which  must  surround  every  public  man,  but  which 
gradually  fade,  like  the  dust  from  the  sculptor's  chisel, 
leaving  the  main  features  clear  and  sharp. 

In   the  second  place,  I  have  done  my  best  to  present 

the    Irish    problem    as   it   is   at   root — that   is    to   say,  in 

vi 


INTRODUCTION 

the  problem  of  self-government.  For  there  have  been 
three  grievances,  two  of  which  have  been,  or  are  on  the 
way  to  being,  solved — the  educational  or  religious 
problem  and  the  agricultural  or  industrial  problem. 
The  National  University  solved  one  ;  Wyndham's  Land 
Act  of  1903  solved  the  other.  The  last,  that  of  Home 
Rule,  remains. 

Home  Rule  is  probably  the  most  misrepresented  term 
in    the    whole    vocabulary    of    English    politics,  and    the 
theory  that  the  "  Union  "  has  anything  to  do  with  the  unity 
of  the  Empire  the  worst  pun  ever  perpetrated.     Unionism 
really   spells   bureaucracy,    Home    Rule    democracy,   and 
it  is  a  strange  historical  curiosity    that  never  has  Home 
Rule  been  judged    upon  its   own    merits,    or   an    attempt 
been    made    to    justify    the    working    of  it  as   a   system. 
Whenever  it  has  been  presented  by  an  almost  unanimous 
Ireland,  it    has    been    met  by    intellectual    panic    by    an 
almost    unanimous    England — at    least,    till    the    rise    of 
English  democracy  and  its  greatest  leader,    W.  E.  Glad- 
stone.     It  has  been  steadily  fought  as  a  scare.     To  the 
average    Englishman    the    Union    is    something    in    the 
nature  of  things — a  kind  of  divine  law.     To  the  average 
Tory,    Home    Rule    is   not    only   something    foolish,    but 
something    wicked   and    immoral    in    itself.     The    notion, 
however  mistaken,  is    not    inexplicable.     Home  Rule  has 
always  been  supported  by   all    that    patriotism    and    reli- 
gion can  supply  to  an  economic  movement,  and  perhaps 

vii' 


INTRODUCTION 

it  is  for  this  reason  that  it  has  entered  the  EngUsh 
mind  in  the  guise  either  of  a  Popish  danger,  second 
only  to  that  betrayed  by  Titus  Gates,  or  else  as  a 
disruption  of  the  Empire  and  a  kind  of  Sicilian  Ves- 
pers. And  the  speeches  of  the  great  anti-Home 
Rulers,  from  Mr.  Chamberlain  to  the  late  Earl  Percy, 
merely  ring  the  changes  on  these  two  ideas  like  warning 
signal  bells.  How  the  establishment  of  a  vigorous 
national  power  in  Ireland  composed  of  laymen  ex- 
clusively can  be  a  clerical  danger  passes  my  compre- 
hension. If  it  is  a  danger,  the  danger  is  to  the 
clericals,  not  from  them  ;  but  personally,  I  think  the 
spheres  of  priests  and  laymen  will  always  be  distinct 
and  apart  under  Home  Rule.  As  to  Separation,  I  will 
yield  to  none  in  my  admiration  of,  and  my  sympathy 
with,  the  Irish  genius  and  the  sufferings  of  Ireland  ; 
but  I  should  quarrel  to  the  last  with  the  man  who 
wished  to  separate  Ireland  from  England.  In  every 
British  Colony  the  Irish  emigrants  form  one  of  the  main 
props  of  Empire ;  and  even  were  it  possible  one  hundred 
years  ago  to  establish  an  independent  and  hostile  Ireland, 
the  colonization  which  has  diffused  the  Irish  all  over  the 
world,  so  that  there  are  more  Irish  in  the  British 
Dominions  beyond  the  Seas  than  in  Ireland  herself, 
has  absolutely  changed  the  problem.  And  as  the  Norman 
families    of    the     Pale    in     Ireland    became    Hiberniores 

Hibernis  ipsis,  the  day  may  come  when  Irishmen  in  the 

viii 


INTRODUCTION 

Colonies  may  become  more  Imperial  than  even  the  Im- 
perialists. The  establishment  of  a  threat  world-wide  power, 
self-sufficient  in  trade,  internally  fostering  its  own  indus- 
tries by  preferential  tariffs  against  external  powers,  the 
facilitating  of  intercommujiication  between  the  Home 
Country  and  the  Colonfes,  is  an  idea  not  without  attraction 
to  the  Irishman,  not  only  at  home,  where  his  whole 
trade  depends  on  the  English  market,  but  in  the 
Colonies,  where  many  of  the  farmers  and  town  manu- 
facturers are  Irishmen.  But  as  Grattan  said,  Ireland 
looks  to  the  Empire  as  a  safeguard  of  her  own 
individuality,  not  as  its  suppression.  An  Empire  built 
to  the  detriment  of  Ireland  is  not  one  that  can  ever 
permanently  appeal  to  Ireland,  for  loyalty  is  at  root 
egotistic.  Separation  to  be  made  impossible  must  be 
made  undesirable. 

There  is,  however,  another  and  perhaps  the  greatest  of 
all  points  in  the  Home  Rule  question  to  which  I  wish 
to  draw  attention,  and  that  is  what  I  may  call  its 
future  social  effect.  Professor  Dicey  once  offered  a  prize 
for  a  new  argument  for  Home  Rule.  I  do  not  know 
whether  I  have  any  claim  to  it,  but  it  has  always  been 
my  conviction  that  the  argument  from  the  past  is  far 
less  potent  than  the  prospective  argument.  In  Ireland 
we  are  too  traditional,  too  little  scientific ;  and  as  the 
result  an    historic  dissertation  on    the  days  of  Cromwell, 

who,    unlike    Queen    Anne,    is    as    much    alive    as    Mr. 

ix 


INTRODUCTION 

Asquith,  has  far  more  weight  than  an  economic  argument 
on    possibilities    of   future    development.     The    English- 
man   is   proverbially   ignorant   of  history,   which   is   the 
very   breath  of  an  Irish   patriot,  and    the  Irishman    who 
has  never  had  the    political   leisure   to    turn   to   industry 
cannot     discuss      impersonally     the     problem     in     cold- 
blooded   terms    of  practical  business.     Hence  the  House 
of    Commons — if    the    two    parties,    British    and    Irish, 
could   be  personified — would  present   the   picture   of  two 
men    locked   up   in    a   room    to    settle    a    question — one 
ardent,    with    a    heart    smarting    from    the    memory    of 
centuries    of   oppression,    impatient    to    redress    an   evit 
which  was    driving    his   family    from    the    land,    beggars 
and  starving ;    and    the    other   sitting  comfortably  beside 
a    glass    of  port,    with    a    conscious     rectitude     begotten 
of   absolute    ignorance    of   everything    beyond    the   day- 
book and    the   year's    ledger.     The   one  speaks    in.  terms 
of   emotion :     the     other    in    terms    of   economics :     the 
one    is    full   of  past   grievances,    the    other    of    concrete 
remedies    for    the    future.     And     I    should    myself  give 
up    the    whole    controversy    in    despair    were    it    not    for 
the     conviction     that     every     Nationalist     sentiment    or 
extravagance    is    but    at    bottom    the    statement   of  an 
economic    grievance — a    fact    which    only    years    of   com- 
parison    between     the     two     peoples     by     contact     and 
residence  has  brought  home  to  me.     The  racial  character- 
istics of  the  two  peoples  have  coloured  both  the  demand 


INTRODUCTION 

and  its  refusal,  but    in    both    cases   the    antagonism    has 
been   due  to  misunderstandings.     Take,  for  example,  the 
great  Land    Transfer  Act   of   1903.     Had   it  been  advo- 
cated purely    in    terms    of  Socialist  rapacity,   race   hatred 
or   class    jealousy,  it    would    not    have    even   obtained   a 
moment's   hearing.     At   the  same    time,    when    once    the 
sentiment    which    was    the    motive    force    of    the    Land 
League    and    the    Fenian    movement    was    turned    into 
terms   of  political  economy,  it  immediately   passed    with 
the    approval   of  all    parties.       Nor    is    this    exceptional. 
Nearly    every    year    the    Statute    Book,    in    grave,    legal 
terms,   approves    of   what   was   previously    advocated   at 
riotous      meetings     engineered     by     hired      professional 
politicians.     And    he   would    be   a   bold  man  who    would 
stand    up   in   the    House    of    Commons   to    propose   the 
reversal    of  any   of   the    great    measures,    such     as    the 
withdrawal  of  Local  Government,  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Irish  Church,  the   abolition    of  the  National  Univer- 
sity or  the  exclusion  of   Catholics  from    participation    in 
parliamentary,  naval  or  official  occupations. 

This  curious  situation  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
Imperial  Parliament  by  its  actions  has  destroyed  the 
possibility  of  deliberation,  avowed  that  agitation  is 
the  only  possible  means  of  obtaining  a  remedy,  and 
compelled  the  mind  of  Ireland  continually  to  brood 
on   its   wrongs   and    regret   the    loss   of  its  Parliament  in 

vain. 

xi 


INTRODUCTION 

Ireland    is    thus    divided    into    six    or   seven    different 
and    divergent    parties.       The    Churches    are    more    an- 
tagonistic   to   each   other   than  probably  in  any  country 
in    the    world.       It    is    doubtful     whether    the    fight    in 
Barcelona    between    Anti-clericals   and    Catholics    is    half 
so  bitter  as  between  Catholics  and  Orangemen  in  Belfast. 
Again,  the   Irish  gentry  have  almost   all — true,  there  are 
a    few    laudable    exceptions — abandoned     that    lead     of 
intellect  which  they  held  in  the  days  of  Grattan,  or  even 
in  those  of  Isaac    Butt.     It   was   their   dutv  to  direct,  to 
regulate,  to  moderate,  to  colour  and  elevate  the  national 
movement ;    instead,   they   have   either  emigrated   as    the 
French  nobles  in  the  days  of  the  French  Revolution,  or 
else  they  have  taken  up  an  entirely  antagonistic  attitude 
towards    the    people.     Their    lo\alty    has    been,    not    the 
altruism    of   heroes,    but   the   cupboard  love  of  placemen 
using,  or  rather  abusing,  bureaucracy  to  their   own  ends, 
as    did    the   men   of  the   old   Irish  Parliament  who  were 
bribed     to    pass    the    Union;    though    it    must    not    be 
forgotten     that      the     iniquities    of     individual     landlords 
have    been   visited   on    the   class    as    a    whole    quite    as 
unjustly.     The  result  of  this  has  been    that   there   is   no 
Irish   public   opinion,   but   only   a  war   of  classes,  creeds 
and  castes,  each  carrying  hostilities  on  in  different  planes 
and    never    meeting  together   to   adjust   their   differences 
or   trying   to    understand   each    other.      There   has    been 

a     continual    appeal    to    the    outsider,    to    America    on 

xii 


INTRODUCTION 

the  one  side  and  to  England  on  the  other,  to  bigoted 
Protestantism  and  to  no  less  heated  Catholicism,  to 
oppressed  tenants  and  oppressing  landlords ;  but  never 
till  the  meeting  of  the  Dunraven  Conference  was  there 
an  attempt  to  settle  the  problem  between  the  actual 
combatants.  The  appeal  to  the  outside  bully  of  coercion 
has  been  met,  of  course,  by  a  no  less  violent  appeal 
to  the  outside  bully  of  Fenianism :  with  the  result 
that  the  quarrels  have  always  been  carried  on  by 
outsiders  and  Ireland  has  been  wrecked. 

Only  some  form  of  parliament  or  legislative  assem- 
bly can  bring  all  denominations  of  thought,  both  political 
and  religious,  into  the  same  focus.  Only  a  common 
meeting  ground  can  secure  that  unity  of  national  aim  to 
which  all  interests  can  come  for  readjustment.  Only  in 
an  intellectual  contest  can  the  true  value  of  economic 
ideas  be  tested.  And  unless  all  creeds  and  classes  take 
their  part  and  exercise  their  proper  influence,  the  result 
is  bound  to  be  a  tyranny,  A  parliament  composed 
entirely  of  the  representatives  of  the  agricultural  vote 
would  be  as  much  a  danger  as  a  bureaucracy  entirely 
limited  to  landlords,  just  as  both  might  be  an  equal 
danger  to  the  commercial  interests  of  Ulster.  Only  in  a 
parliament  or  deliberative  chamber  can  the  value  of 
education,  experience  and  interest  properly  affect  legis- 
lation ;    without    it,    there    would    i.jevitably    result    the 

unthinking  will  of  the  majority,  irrespective   of  any  con- 

xiii 


INTRODUCTION 

sideration  but  that   of  numerical  strength.     The  working 

of  the  Local    Government    Act    is    a    sufficient  refutation 

of  those    who  would  maintain   that    Irishmen  are    purely 

political.       The    granting    of    Home    Rule   would    in    all 

probability   kill    politics    properly  so  called,  and  the  new 

parliament   arouse    no   more   anxiety  than    the   workings 

of   the    London    County    Council :     but    it    would    have 

united  Irish  thought  and  broken  down  the  barrier  which 

separates    the    Castle    from    the    League,    the     politician 

from    the  official,   the  clerical  from  the   anti-clerical,  and 

would    thereby   tend    to    the    abolition    of  all    "  outside " 

appeal  in  domestic  controversies,  to  soften  that  irritation 

which    has    done  more  to  keep   the  two  parties   and  the 

two   peoples   apart    than    any   persecution    or    prejudice. 

In  the  end  the  saner    ideas    must    prevail,  and    all   fear 

of  separation,  as  well    as  all  hope  or  desire   of  it,  must 

evaporate.     But  we  must  first  come  back  to  the  position 

taken    up   by  Grattan.     Ireland    looks  to  the    Empire  as 

the   great   barrier   against   foreign    intervention  from    the 

Continent,  and  as  the  security  of  her   liberties.     Therein 

lies  Ireland's  demand  for  Imperial  unity,  and  therein,  and 

only  therein,  lies  not    only  the  claim   but  the  guarantee 

of  Irish  loyalty. 

We  of  the   younger  generation  are  tired  of  the  strife, 

but   we  will   not  abandon   it  till  its   object   is   conceded. 

We   wish   to   see   the    rise    of   a    New    Unionism,    based 

upon    Home    Rule.      We    are    Unionist    Home    Rulers, 

xiv 


INTRODUCTION 

because  we  believe  that  Home  Rule  is,  we  cannot  say  a 
Unionist,  but  at  least  a  uniting  measure,  and  we  wish  to 
see  the  two  peoples,  whose  seed  has  equally  populated, 
whose  brains  have  equally  developed,  whose  blood  has 
been  equally  shed  in  defence  of  the  greatest  Empire 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  understand  each  other  and  unite 
in  its  maintenance  and  in  its  victorious  development. 
There  are  dangers  far  ahead  ;  but  the  greatest  of 
dangers  is  nearer  home,  in  that  misgovernment  of 
centuries  which  has  reduced  Ireland  by  half  its  popu- 
lation, and  produced  a  hatred  of  England  in  Ireland 
more  bitter  than  that  of  the  foreign  nation  most 
hostile  to  England.  It  is  no  threat  that  is  thus 
uttered  ;  it  is  purely  the  calm  perception  of  future  con- 
tingencies. Never,  perhaps,  in  the  whole  of  English 
history  has  the  opportunity  been  more  favourable,  and 
the  dispositions  been  more  ripe,  for  the  final  solution  of 
the  great  historic  grievance  between  the  two  peoples, 
and  if  this  volume  can  tend  to  make  the  understand- 
ing of  the  demand  of  Mr.  John  Redmond  easier,  the 
author  will  be  amply  repaid  for  his  labours. 

L.  G.  Redmond-Howard, 

Trinity  College,  Dublin. 


XV 


JOHN   REDMOND 

CHAPTER   I 

FAMILY — BIRTH — EDUCATION 
1857— 1880 

rrOR  those  who  seek  an  explanation  of  the  character- 
istics and  sentiments  of  the  Irish  people  at  the 
present  day  and  wish  to  study  what  might  be  called 
the  evolution  of  the  Nationalist  mind,  there  is  nothing 
that  serves  their  purpose  better  than  an  account  of  the 
career  of  Mr.  John  Redmond.  He  not  only  represents, 
as  Leader  of  the  Irish  Party,  the  politics,  but  his 
family  to  a  great  extent  represents  the  history,  of  the 
Irish  problem.  Just  as  the  career  of  many  an  English 
county  family  illustrates  one  phase  or  another  of  the 
history  of  England,  so  the  story  of  the  Redmonds  may 
be  said  to  present  one  whole  aspect  of  the  history  of 
Ireland. 

To  begin  with,  the  Redmonds  are  not  of  the  old  Irish 
stock ;  but  like  the  Fitzgeralds  and  many  others  of 
Anglo-Norman  descent,  they  have  become  Hibernior 
Hibernis   ipsis.     For  who  are   so    Irish   as   the   Wexford 


JOHN  REDMOND 

men  ?  And  Wexford  blood  flows  in  John  Redmond's 
veins,  and  the  Wexford  spirit  is  in  his  heart.  The 
family  have  always  been  in  one  way  or  another  connected 
with  the  town  of  Wexford  from  the  first  day  the  Nor- 
mans landed  on  Irish  shores,  when  Wexford  was  but  a 
small  seaport  and  the  townsfolk  half  Danish. 

The    Redmonds   are,   therefore,   one   of  the    oldest,    if 
not    the    very     oldest,     of    the    Anglo-Norman    families. 
John  Redmond  (who,  upon  the  death  of  the  late  General 
Redmond,  became  the  head   of  the   family   and    heir   to 
the   family   estates)   is   the   lineal    descendant   of  one   of 
the    Fitzwilliams,   known   as    Raymund    le    Gros,    one   of 
the  ablest  lieutenants   of  Strongbow,  Earl   of  Pembroke, 
and   descended — according   to   a  tradition  in   the   family 
— from    the   same   stock   as   the    celebrated     Raymunds, 
Counts  of  Toulouse,  in  France,  who  figure  so  prominently 
in  Church   history,   one   of  them   having   led  a  Crusade, 
the   other,  during   the   Albigenses   heresy,   having  had   a 
crusade    preached   against   him.     Strongbow,    it    will    be 
remembered,    had    been    invited   to    Ireland   by   Dermot 
McMurrough,     King    of    Leinster    (whose    daughter    he 
afterwards   married),  and   it   was   this  incident   that   pre- 
pared   the    way    for    the  English  invasion   of  Ireland  in 
1172.     Raymund    le    Gros    was    sent  over    as  a   kind   of 
advance  guard  and  landed  on  the  first  of  May,   1170,  at 
Baginbun,  a   little   promontory   in    the   barony    of   Shel- 
burne,  in  Wexford.     A  deep  moat  and  rampart — portion 


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•3 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

of  Raymund's  defences — are  still  to  be  seen  marking 
the  place  where  he  and  his  little  army  of  ten  men- 
at-arms  and  seventy  archers  had  entrenched  them- 
selves. 

But  the  conquest  of  the  town  was  no  easy  matter. 
The  inhabitants  defended  themselves  stoutly,  and  the 
whole  incident  is  the  subject  of  an  old  ballad,  called 
"  The  Song  of  Dermot,"  which  relates  that : 

"At  the  creeke  of  Banginbunne, 
Ireland  was  lost  and  won." 

The  strangers,  however  small  in  numbers,  were 
evidently  vigorous  in  the  exercise  of  their  power,  and 
soon  cowed  the  inhabitants  into  surrender.  Several  of 
the  prisoners,  including  many  of  the  chief  citizens  of 
Wexford,  were  hurled  from  the  tops  of  the  rugged  cliffs 
into  the  sea  beneath !  The  town  once  taken  was  kept 
for  the  King,  and  upon  the  arrival  of  Henry  II.  was 
yielded  up  to  him.  He  in  turn  granted  it  to  Strong- 
bow,  and  some  of  the  estates  passed  into  the  family  of 
the  Raymunds  as  part  of  the  dowry  of  the  Lady 
Basilea,  sister  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  who  afterwards 
became  the  wife  of  Raymund  le  Gros.  An  old  two- 
handed  sword  of  gigantic  size  was  for  a  long  time  pre- 
served in  the  Redmond  family  as  a  relic  and  was  said 
to  have  been  the  weapon  with  which  Strongbow  had 
actually  cut  his  son  in  twain  for  the  crime  of  cowardice, 
the  weapon  being   handed    down   as  an    heirloom  in  the 

3  I* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

family  of  the  "  Redmonds  of  the  Hall."  About  a 
century  ago,  however,  the  sword  was  brought  to  London, 
since  when  all  trace  of  it  has  been  lost. 

The  history  of  the  family  from  the  death  of  Ray- 
mund  to  the  Reformation  belongs  to  county  history, 
but  by  continual  intermarriage  they  practically  became 
identified  with  the  causes  and  interests  of  Ireland. 
Though  loyal,  in  the  political  sense  of  the  word,  they 
were  not  so  in  the  religious  sense,  and  remained  true 
to  the  faith  of  their  ancestors ;  and  the  ruins  of  the 
Monastery  at  Churchtown,  near  Hook,  in  Wexford,  was 
for  centuries  the  burial  place  of  the  Redmonds,  the 
name,  "  Eques  Hospitabilis  "  (given  to  a  Sir  John  Redmond 
of  the  sixteenth  century),  being  probably  the  recognition  of 
a  debt  of  gratitude  to  their  patron  on  the  part  of  the 
little  community  of  Canons   Regular. 

Alexander  Redmond,  the  last  to  be  buried  there,  was 
the  Alexander  Redmond  who  in  1642  resisted  Captain 
Thomas  Aston,  who  was  besieging  the  castle.  He  was 
an  old  man  of  about  seventy  at  the  time,  but,  together 
with  his  sons  and  retainers,  he  defended  the  Hall  "so 
stoutly  that  many  of  the  English  leaped  from  the  rocks 
and  were  drowned."  x'\nd  it  remained  in  their  possession 
till  Cromwell  arrived,  when  they  capitulated  upon  honour- 
able terms. 

This  Alexander  Redmond  died  about  1650,  and  the 
greater  part  of  his   lands  were  transferred  by  the  Act  of 

4 


FAMILY— BIRTH—EDUCATION 

Settlement  from  the  Papist  owner  to  the  Protestant, 
Sir  Nicholas  Loftus,  by  letters  patent  of  August  30th, 
1666,  and  the  old  castle  took  the  name  of  Loftus  Hall. 
It  was  only  one  of  a  large  number  of  confiscations,  but 
it  is  a  typical  example,  and  explains  the  feeling  of  deep 
attachment  to  the  Catholic  Church  which  to  this  day 
exists  in  many  an  Anglo- Irish  family,  and  shows  at 
what  a  sacrifice  the  people  have  kept  the  faith. 

The  event  is  commemorated  in  the  Redmond  arms  to 
this  day  by  three  woolsacks  which — according  to  the 
story — had  been  placed  in  the  windows  of  the  castle, 
during  the  struggle.  Another  topographical  point  which 
occurs  in  the  crest  of  the  family  is  a  blazing  beacon, 
such  as  must  often  have  been  seen  round  the  coast  of 
Wexford  before  the  days  of  Tuscar  Lighthouse. 

From  the  times  of  Cromwell  to  those  of  "  '98,"  the 
family  suffered  still  further  from  the  severity  of  the  penal 
laws,  when  an  Irish  Papist  could  not  possess  a  horse 
over  five  pounds  in  value,  and  much  of  the  property 
of  Catholics  was  held  by  trust  in  Protestant  hands. 
The  main  branch,  too,  became  reduced  in  one  generation 
to  three  heiresses,  among  whom  the  greater  part  of 
the  property  was  divided,  and  passed  into  the  hands 
of  three  baronet  families,  the  "  Talbots,"  the  "Powers," 
and  the  "  Seagraves." 

During  the  rebellion  of  '"98,"  Wexford  became  the 
centre  of  the  revolt,  and  the  name  of  Redmond  appears 

5 


JOHN   REDMOND 

several  times  in  the  records.  One  old  print  (in  two 
blocks)  can  still  be  seen  in  ancient  Wexford  houses 
showing  "  the  beautiful  and  accomplished  Miss  Red- 
mond "  on  horseback  leading  the  rebels.  We  also  hear 
that  a  Father  Francis  Redmond,  who  had  once  been 
the  companion  of  Napoleon's  schooldays  and  shared  his 
room  as  a  student  at  Bas  Poicton,  and  had  even  saved 
him  on  one  occasion  from  drowning,  subsequently 
suffered  death  on  the  scaffold  (though  apparently  a 
loyalist  and  a  close  relative  of  Lord  Mountmorres, 
whose  property  he  had  endeavoured  to  persuade  the 
rebels  to  yield  up) ;  while  several  ancestors  in  the 
maternal  branches  of  the  family  were  hanged  in  the 
cause  for  which  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  shed  his 
blood. 

From  the  days  when  a  political  career  became  open 
to  Catholics,  the  family  were  always  politicians  of  the 
type  one  might  call  "  moderate "  Home  Rulers,  and 
the  first  member  of  Parliament  was  old  John  Edward 
Redmond,  to  whom  a  monument  was  afterwards  erected 
in  the  town  of  Wexford,  and  who  was  returned  in 
1859  unopposed,  the  two  rival  candidates  (Mr.  Devereux 
and  Sir  Frederick  Hughes)  having  retired  in  his  favour. 
He,  again,  was  a  typical  example  of  the  Catholic  gentry. 
He  was  introduced  by  the  mayor  in  one  of  those 
typical   old-fashioned   speeches  which  usually  took  place 

on  such  occasions,   but  from  which  we  see  that  he  was 

6 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

above  all  a  representative  citizen  of  a  representative 
family.  His  father,  Walter  Redmond,  had  been  the 
first  to  deal  the  fatal  blow  to  the  market  tithes,  which 
in  the  case  of  Wexford  were  particularly  oppressive. 
Moreover,  the  family  had  built  a  small  pier  for  the 
vessels  in  the  harbour,  had  abolished  the  bridge  tolls, 
and  reclaimed  much  of  the  low  waste  land,  and  were 
at  the  time  eagerly  negotiating  for  the  extension  of  the 
railway  to  open  up  the  West  and  South  as  well  as  to 
establish  the  new  route  now  being  opened  at  Rosslare. 
John  Edward  Redmond  was  a  Liberal  in  politics,  and 
an  advocate  of  the  removal  of  all  civil  and  religious 
disabilities,  as  well  as  for  a  revision  of  the  conditions  of 
the  tenants'  position,  who  in  those  days  were  not  entitled 
to  compensation  for  improvements. 

A  generation  later,  William  Archer  Redmond,  the 
son  of  Patrick  Walter  Redmond  (a  deputy  lieutenant  for 
the  County  of  Wexford),  and  father  of  the  Leader  of 
the  Irish  Party,  was  returned  for  the  borough  of  Wex- 
ford in  1872. 

"  I  can  well  remember  the  elder  Redmond,"  writes 
Mr.  Justin  McCarthy.  "  He  was  a  man  of  the  most 
courteous  bearing,  polished  manners,  a  man,  in  fact,  of 
education  and  extraordinary  capacity,  who,  when  he 
spoke  in  debate,  spoke  well  and  very  much  to  the  point, 
and  he  was  highly  esteemed  by  all  parties  in  the 
House." 

^7 


JOHN   REDMOND 

He  was  educated  at  Stonyhurst  College,  also  at  Bonn, 
and  took  his  degree  at  Trinity,  Dublin.  He  was  an 
ardent  "  Home  Ruler,"  and  attended  the  famous  Home 
Rule  Conference  of  1873,  at  which  he  proposed  many 
of  the  important  resolutions.  He  was  also  a  temperance 
reformer.  He  seconded  the  resolution  in  favour  of  the 
re-enactment  and  extension  of  the  Sunday  Closing  Act 
in  Ireland,  and  was  a  constant  attendant  at  the  meetings 
in  London  of  the  "  League  of  the  Cross,"  a  total  abstin- 
ence organization  founded  by  Cardinal  Manning.  He 
was  a  continuous  and  valuable  contributor  to  the  Tablet, 
which  review,  when  he  died  in  November,  1880,  wrote 
of  him : — 

"  He  was  a  man  of  large  and  cultivated  intellect, 
refined  and  sensitive  nature,  and  his  fearless  assertion  of 
principle  was  ever  combined  with  a  heart  ever  sensible 
of  warm  and  generous  emotions." 

"  In  reference  to  the  question  of  legislative  indepen- 
dence," he  wrote  in  his  election  address  in  1872,  "which 
now  occupies  the  attention  of  the  country  under  the 
name  of  Home  Rule,  I  will  at  once  declare  my  con- 
viction that  Ireland  possesses  the  indefeasible  right  to 
be  governed  by  an  Irish  Parliament.  That  right  has 
never  been  forfeited  or  surrendered,  and  I  hold  that 
the  restoration  of  Home  Rule  is  absolutely  essential  to 
the  good  government  of  the  country,  to  the  development 

of  its  resources,  to   the   removal  of  the  wasting  curse  of 

8 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

absenteeism  and  to  the  final  establishment  in  peace 
and  liberty  of  the  Irish  race  upon  Irish  soil,  I  am 
convinced  that  ample  means  exist  to  achieve  this 
result  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  and  with- 
out infringing  upon  our  loyalty  to  the  throne,  I  differ 
entirely  from  those  who  would  say  that  union  amongst 
Irishmen  is  impossible,  and  that  they  do  not  possess 
sufficient  public  virtue  to  enable  them  to  manage 
their   own   affairs." 

Such,  then,  is  the  history  of  the  family  from  which 
John  Edward  Redmond  sprang.  The  eldest  son  of  W, 
A.  Redmond,  the  member  for  Wexford,  who  had 
married  a  daughter  of  General  Hoey,  he  was  born  in 
1857,  and  spent  most  of  his  early  years  at  Ballytrent 
House,  an  old  family  mansion  on  the  coast  of  Wex- 
ford, overlooking  the  sea  and  facing  Tuscar  Light- 
house. They  were  a  family  of  four,  comprising  two 
daughters,  one  of  whom  became  a  nun  of  the  Order 
of  Marie  Reparatrice  at  Harley  House,  while  the 
other  married  an  English  Australian  of  New  South 
Wales,  Mr.  Louis  George  Howard  (the  present  writer's 
father),  and  two  sons — John,  the  eldest,  and  another, 
William  Hoey  Kearney  Redmond,  who  at  first  served 
in  the  Army,  and  later  became  the  member  for  East 
Clare. 

From  boyhood  to  manhood,  therefore,  John  Redmond 
lived  in  Wexford,  and  the  history  of  his  own  family,  as 

9 


JOHN   REDMOND 

well  as  the  history  of  the  county,  furnish  the  best 
explanation  of  his  mental  attitude  towards  England 
and  all  things  English. 

He  feels  precisely  as  a  member  of  an  English  county 
family  feels,  a  personal  pride  in  his  country.  Each  of 
the  great  political  movements  has  a  special  personal 
meaning  to  him.  The  attitude  he  takes,  therefore,  is 
greatly,  as  I  have  said,  representative :  that  is,  it  is  the 
attitude  of  those  who  starved  for  a  principle  and  suffered 
for  a  principle.  If  he  is  looked  upon  as  a  revolutionist, 
even  as  a  bigot,  the  cause  is  not  to  be  sought  in  the 
individual  but  lies  at  the  root  of  the  System  that 
has  caused  that  revolution  and  that  bigotry.  And  if 
this  principle  were  only  borne  in  mind  and  the 
Irish  grievances  were  examined  instead  of  being 
denounced,  it  would  be  found  that  nearly  every 
Nationalist  sentiment  is  at  the  bottom  but  the  state- 
ment of  an   economic  truth. 

"  For   myself,"   he   says   (speaking   of  the   influence  of 

history    upon    his    character),    "  the    rising    of    Wexford 

County  in  '98  is  one  which  from  my  very  earliest  youth 

has    exercised    a    powerful    fascination    upon    my   mind. 

This  is  but  natural.     I  had  been  reared  and  nurtured  in 

the    midst   of  the   hills   and    valleys   that   witnessed    the 

struggles    of    '98  ;    I    had    been    taught   to   regard    every 

scene   as   a  monument  of  the  heroism  of  our  forefathers, 

and  to    remember  that  well  nigh  every  sod  beneath  my 

10 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

feet  marked  a  hero's  sepulchre.  My  boyish  ears  had 
Hstened  to  the  tales  of  '98  from  the  lips  of  old  men 
who  had  themselves  witnessed  the  struggles,  and  I 
scarcely  know  a  family  who  cannot  tell  of  a  father  or 
grandfather  or  some  near  relative  who  died  fighting  at 
Wexford,  at  Oulart,  or  Ross.  Every  scene  most  familiar 
to  my  early  youth  was  associated  with  some  tale  of 
heroism  or  suffering,  and  one  of  my  proudest  recollec- 
tions has  ever  been,  as  it  is  to-day,  that  in  that  dark 
hour  of  trial,  there  were  not  wanting  men  of  my  race 
and  name  who  attested  by  their  lives  to  their  devotion 
to  Ireland!" 

From  the  very  first  John  Redmond  showed  signs  of 
exceptional  ability.  He  was  very  fond  of  literature,  as 
well  as  sports  and  hunting,  and  became  the  object  of  his 
father's  special  care  and  attention,  who,  as  soon  as  he 
was  suf^ciently  prepared,  sent  him  to  the  Irish  Jesuit 
College  of  Clongowes,  in  Kildare.  "  All  I  am  I  owe  to 
the  Jesuit  fathers,"  Redmond  once  declared  at  a  public 
banquet  at  the  Hotel  Cecil. 

At  Clongowes  he  is  well  remembered  by  his  old  mas- 
ters even  to  this  day.  The  recollections  of  one  of  them 
I  am  now  allowed  to  include.  His  debates  used  to 
empty  the  billiard-rooms  then  as  they  often  now  do  the 
smoking-rooms  of  the  House  of  Commons ! 

"  All    through    his    time    in    Clongowes,"    writes     the 

aforesaid    mentor,   "  there   was   no   more   prominent  boy. 

II 


JOHN    REDMOND 

At  the  very  beginning  the  high  compliment  was  paid 
him  of  getting  through  two  classes  in  one  year.  Even 
then  he  gave  promise  of  excellence  in  speaking  and 
writing  English.  Even  in  his  elocution  (and  he  was  the 
best  of  all  Professor  Bell's  pupils)  his  action  was  well 
nigh  perfect.  He  impressed  one  with  what  he  was  say- 
ing— he  caught  one.  And  on  the  stage  these  peculiar 
gifts  were  seen  to  far  greater  advantage.  In  Charles 
XII.,  for  instance,  in  The  Iron  Chest,  Macbeth,  and 
Hamlet  he  always  took  the  leading  parts  and  played 
and  looked  these  parts  to  the  life.  The  present  Judge 
Barry  was  a  contemporary  of  his  and  made  an  excellent 
and  effective  Macduff  to  Redmond's  Macbeth  !  " 

"  He  had  a  very  kind  and  easy  way  about  him," 
writes  a  schoolfellow.  "  I  never  knew  of  anyone  to  dis- 
like him,  and  as  his  old  school  is  proud  of  him,  so  he 
has  ever  been  loyal  to  his  Alma  Mater.  Also,  I  may 
add,  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most 
religious  boys  in  the  school !  " 

An  interview  which  I  had  with  his  old  master, 
however,  will,  perhaps,  give  more  insight  into  his  char- 
acter than  any  mere  abstract  analysis. 

"When    I    went    to    Clongowes    myself  as    a    master," 

said    Father    Kane — the     old     mentor    in     question — "  in 

the   autumn   of   1870,  John  Redmond   was   in  the  fourth 

Form.     He  had  been  at  Clongowes  for  some  years  before  I 

had    charge   of   his    class.     It   was    a  large    class  and,  I 

12 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

may  say,  a  rowdy  class.  And  when  I  say  '  rowdy,'  I 
mean  rowdy  even  for  an  Irish  class.  In  fact,  they  had 
already  had  twelve  respective  masters,  and  so  I  had  to 
be  severe.  Indeed,  there  was  continual  disorder,  and 
they  were  somewhat  out  of  hand.  But  not  so  John 
Redmond.  He  was  always  a  gentleman,  and  he  was 
extremely  courteous  to  me. 

"  For  instance,  I  remember  once  we  had  trouble  in  the 
class.  I  forget  exactly  what  the  occasion  was.  Perhaps, 
no  practical  grievance,  but  merely  the  old  spirit.  And, 
after  all,  boys  love  a  '  lark.'  This  time,  however,  it  had 
gone  beyond  a  lark,  the  boy  having  openly  revolted  and 
been  downright  insolent.  The  class  looked  on  to  see 
what  would  happen,  evidently  expecting  a  crisis.  There 
was  none,  since  I  reduced  the  culprit  to  tears  by  my 
subsequent  lecture. 

"  But  my  self-restraint  had  evidently  impressed  them, 
and  that  the  young  fellow's  impudence  had  evidently 
lost  him  the  sympathy  of  his  class-mates  was  evident 
from  the  fact  that  John  Redmond  came  up  to  me  after- 
wards and  said  almost  reproachfully — '  Why  didn't  you 
knock  him  down,  sir  ?  '  " 

"  What  sort  of  a  student  was  he  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Well,  it  is  rather  hard  to  say.  He  had  many  in- 
terests. He  loved  literature,  he  could  recite  poems  and 
quote  passages  of  Byron  and  Shelley,  and  especially 
Shakespeare,  by    heart,  but  John  Gannon,  who   came    to 

13 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Clongowes  about  this  time,  was  more  of  a  plodder,  and 
eventually  'took  him  down.'  In  fact,  comparing  them, 
one  might  describe  Jack  as  being  *  almost  lazy ' — not 
idle  but  dreamy,  'literary'  and  dilettante.  Towards  the 
*  exams,'  however,  he  would  make  up  for  lost  time,  and 
by  sheer  ability  account  for  his  apparent  lack  of  indus- 
try during  previous  terms. 

"  In  English  he  was  by  far  at  his  best,  and  his  essays 
were  always  well  ahead  of  those  of  the  other  scholars. 
It  was  not  mere  superficial  knowledge  (for  he  always 
had  an  extraordinary  memory),  so  much  as  the  elevated 
and  dignified  way  he  had  of  looking  at  any  given 
subject  which  struck  me.  And  when  there  was  a  *Con- 
sultatio,'  or  public  display,  I  often  made  him  read  out 
his  own  essays  publicly,  some  of  which  I  still  have 
among  my  papers." 

"  What  would  you  say  was  the  chief  point  in  his 
character  ?  "     I  inquired. 

"  I  should  say  his  '  maturity.'  He  had  been  matured 
by  his  home  life  and  his  devotion  to  both  his  parents 
and  sisters.  His  father,  William  Archer  Redmond,  who 
was  the  member  for  Wexford,  used  often  to  come  to 
see  his  son,  and  was  always  full  of  interest  in  his 
doings.  And  '  Jack '  always  seemed  to  have  a 
grand,  old-fashioned  respect  for  his  father,  and  thus 
he  acquired  part  of  his  father's  refinement  and  polish, 
and     the    close    intimacy    between    them    gave    him   a 

14 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

maturity    of    mind    which    at    oncej  placed     him     in    a 
different   category   to   that   of  his   companions. 

"  About  the  same  time  he  began  to  make  his  mark  on 
the  stage  and  in  the  debate.  As  to  the  stage,  he  was 
the  greatest  actor  that  was  ever  seen  at  Clongowes.  It 
was  in  the  year  1871  that  he  first  played  Macbeth. 
The  next  year  he  played  Hamlet,  which  was  even  a 
more  marked  success  than  his  Macbeth  of  the  year 
before. 

"  His  other  forte — though  he  was  an  all-round-man — was 
essentially  the  debate.  He  was  awarded  the  Clongowes 
debate  medal — which,  as  you  know,  is  given  every  year 
to  the  best  speaker — and  if  ever  anyone  deserved  it  and 
had  proved  himself  worthy  of  it,  it  was  John  Redmond. 
The  Debating  Society  was  much  what  it  is  everywhere 
in  colleges  all  the  world  over — semi-parliamentary,  semi- 
academic.  Daniel  O'Connell  had  been  a  great  admirer 
of  the  Clongowes  Debating  Society,  and  no  doubt  the 
memory  of  his  stirring  words  had  encouraged  many 
young  aspirants  like  Jack.  He  was  wont  to  come  down 
from  Dublin  to  listen  and  to  take  the  chair.  He  would 
sometimes  speak,  too,  and  the  records  of  his  words  must 
have  been  still  in  existence  in  the  days  of  Redmond. 
They  all  perished,  however,  in  the  great  fire  when 
the  study  hall  was  burnt  down  and  the  Minutes  Book 
was  destroyed.  Father  Fegan,  who  was  later  higher- 
line  Prefect,  was  Redmond's  chief  rival,   and   both   these 

15 


JOHN   REDMOND 

fiery  leaders  would  wax  eloquent  anent  the  respective 
merits  of  Cicero  or  Demosthenes,  and  rouse  their 
followers  to  equal  pitches  of  enthusiasm.  Later,  how- 
ever, under  the  guidance  of  John  Redmond,  the  debates 
ceased  to  have  that  mere  academic  value,  and  their 
energies  were  turned  into  more  useful  directions,  and 
questions  of  Irish  history,  as  well  as  topics  of  current 
politics,  were  introduced  ;  and  not  a  little  of  Redmond's 
experience  and  skill  is  due  to  the  training  which  he 
received  in  the  Clongowes  Debating  Society,  before  he 
sailed  forth  to  measure  swords  with  the  mighty  orators 
of  the  British  House  of  Commons. 

"  Besides  the  ordinary  debates  there  were  also  the 
public  debates.  For  example,  on  Academy  Day,  when 
all  the  guests  and  parents  would  come  down  to  Clon- 
gowes, then  John  Redmond  really  shone.  In  addition 
to  the  public  debate  I  would  induce  him  to  recite  a 
Latin  ode  or  declaim  one  of  Cicero's  speeches. 

"  Redmond  was  also  exceedingly  good  at  games,  and 
was  greatly  loved  and  respected  by  his  companions,  as, 
indeed,  he  was  by  his  superiors.  A  first-rate  bowler  and 
a  smart  batsman,  he  was,  in  his  last  year,  elected  Vice- 
Captain  of  the  school.  His  father,  whom  I  knew  very 
well,  used  often  to  come  down.  Once  I  met  the  twain 
and  found  Jack  sporting  some  magnificent  cigars,  a 
present  from  his  father.     Being  then  in  my   private   and 

not  my  official   capacity,    I    ventured    to   suggest   that   if 

i6 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

he  wished  to  enjoy  them  to  the  full  he  had  better 
smoke  them  then  and  there,  despite  the  immediate 
proximity  of  the  school.  He  took  my  advice  ;  though  I 
firmly  believe  it  was  the  only  advice  of  mine  he  ever 
repented  of  taking. 

"  Another  point  strikes  me,  now  that  I  am  talking  of 
advice.  He  was  the  favourite  and  pet  pupil  of  Bell,  the 
great  elocutionist.  Bell  was  a  big,  pompous  man  who 
wore  his  hair  down  on  his  shoulders,  and  walked  with 
a  martial  strut.  He  was  the  regular  type  of  the  old- 
fashioned  school  of  a  century  ago,  the  rediictio  ad 
absurduvi  of  Burke,  a  regular  pompous  orator,  who 
would  no  doubt  have  gone  down  very  well  with  our 
grandfathers,  but  who  to-day  would  be  looked  upon  as 
a  mere  bombastic  nonentity.  Bell  was  always  fond  of 
getting  John  Redmond  under  his  direction,  and  probably 
much  of  the  former's  elocution  had  been  rehearsed  be- 
tween them. 

'"Listen  to  all  he's  got  to  say,  John,'  I  often  told  him, 
'  and  don't  do  anything  he  says.  You  do  it  better 
yourself.'     And  I  believe  he  did. 

"  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  any  of  us  ever  dreamed 
that  he  might  acquire  the  position  he  now  occupies.  It 
was  only  the  other  day  I  read  in  one  of  the  leading 
political  papers  that  were  he  to  throw  in  his  lot  with 
Liberal  or  Conservative,  he  would  most  certainly  become 
Prime    Minister  of  England !     But,  of  course,  all  that  is 

17  a 


JOHN   REDMOND 

mere  speculation,  and  to  me  is  only  significant  as  a 
tribute  to  the  character  and  the  abilities  of  the  dearest 
of  my  old  pupils. 

"  I  can  only  say  this — that  while  they  are  in  the  hands 
of  John  Redmond,  the  destinies  of  Ireland  are  safe,  as 
far  as  ability  of  mind  and  nobility  of  character  are 
concerned.  I  have  known  him  from  a  boy,  and  I  say 
again,  as  long  as  the  destinies  of  Ireland  are  in  his 
hands  they  are  in  the  keeping  of  an  honest  man." 

It  is  a  pleasant  remembrance,  and  when  upon  St. 
Patrick's  Day,  1908,  Father  Kane  stood  up  in  the 
banqueting  hall  of  the  Hotel  Cecil  and  gave  a  few  of 
his  recollections,  the  audience  were  moved  to  see  the 
evident  pride  of  the  old  master,  then  almost  completely 
blind,  when  he  spoke  of  his  favourite  pupil. 

Upon   leaving   Clongowes   John   Redmond   spent   some 

time    as    a    "  philosopher,"    as   those   students    who   had 

passed  through  the  curriculum  and  returned  were  called. 

These  privileged  ones  had  their  private  rooms  and  were 

allowed     to     keep     their    dogs,    and    occasionally    were 

permitted  to  shoot.     But  this  did   not  last  long,  and   he 

went   up   to   Dublin,  and,   entering  Trinity  College,  took 

rooms    in    Botany     Bay.      He   did    not   stay   to   get    his 

degree.     Most  of  his  energies  seem  to  have  been  devoted 

to   getting    through    his    *'  Bar "    exams,    and    following 

the  lectures  at  the  King's  Inns,  at  Dublin. 

The  following   recollection   is   from    one   of  his   fellow 

18 


FAMILY— BIRTH— EDUCATION 

students,  and  is  given  in  W.  T.  Stead's  character  sketch 
of  him  : 

"  I  first  made  John  Redmond's  acquaintance,"  wrote 
Mr.  VV.  M.  Cook  in  1901,  "some  sixteen  or  eighteen 
years  ago,  when  we  were  law  students  together  at  the 
King's  Inns,  in  Dublin.  It  will  surprise  most  people,  I 
am  sure,  to  learn  that  my  earliest  impressions  of  him 
were  as  a  temperance  reformer.  The  Irish  National 
movement  has  always  been  closely  associated  with  the 
drink  traffic,  and  in  the  atmosphere  of  an  Irish  Protes- 
tant home  the  two  are  closely  connected  in  thought.  It 
is  impossible  to  convey  to  anyone  not  brought  up  in 
that  atmosphere  how  strict  is  the  caste  system  that 
prevails  in  Ireland.  There  is  nothing  like  it  in  England  ; 
nothing  like  it  anywhere  in  the  Empire  except  India. 
It  was  the  fact  that  Mr.  Redmond  was  almost  a  total 
abstainer  that  first  brought  us  together.  The  meeting 
was  in  this  wise : 

•'  It   was    the   custom    for  the  students  of  King's    Inns 

to  dine   in    messes   of  six.      A    fixed    quantity    of    wine 

per    head    was    allowed    to    each     table,     and     thereby 

students,    of    whom    there    were    a    few,    always   sought 

diligently    for     totally   abstaining   acquaintances    to  join 

their  mess.     As  I   did   not   drink  wine,    I    found    myself 

in   great  demand,  and  on   one  occasion    the    same   mess 

captured  John   Redmond  also.     As  he  never  took  more 

than  half  a  glass   of  wine   at   dinner  this  table  regarded 

19  2* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

itself  lucky  as  having  six  bottles  of  wine  for  four 
persons,  and  I  had  the  privilege  of  being  introduced 
to  Mr.  Redmond." 

The  story,  though  trivial,  is  characteristic.  It  shows 
in  part  the  influence  of  the  father,  and  it  shows  also 
the  chief  note  in  Mr.  Redmond's  character — i.e.,  an 
avoidance  of  extreme  measures,  of  faddists  and  idealists, 
and  a  power  of  self-control  that  can  say — "  thus  far 
and  no  farther." 

It  was  some  years  before  he  was  called  to  the  Bar,  nor 
did  he  at  once  take  his  degree.  He  proceeded  to 
London,  partly  to  help  his  father,  who  suffered 
from  heart  disease,  and  partly  to  prepare  himself  for 
a  political  career,  and  for  a  time  he  occupied  the 
position  of  a  clerk  in  the  Vote  Office  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  Later  he  became  a  contributor  to  the 
Weekly  Register,  for  which  he  used  to  write  the 
Parliamentary  letter.  A  story  told  by  Wilfred  Meynell 
(then  editor)  of  Lord  Russell  of  Killowen  is  amusing. 
There  was  not  a  little  of  the  Tory  spirit  in  some 
quarters  of  the  Redmond  family,  and  the  late  Lord 
Russell  knew  this.  And  when,  as  Attorney-General,  he 
learned  of  the  humble  weekly  sovereign  that  used  to  be 
John  Redmond's  modest  reward,  he  exclaimed  :  "  My 
God  !  You  don't  mean  to  say  the  fellow  took  it  ? " 
"  Better  men  have  taken  less,"  was  the  reply  of  the 
veteran  journalist !  "  and  worse  have  taken  more." 

20 


CHAPTER   II 

FIRST   YEARS   IN    PARLIAMENT 
1880— 1890 

FUBLIC   LIFE — ELECTION — COLONIAL  TOURS 

TT  was  probably  as  a  clerk  in  the  Vote  Office  of  the 
House  of  Commons  that  John  Redmond  obtained 
his  first  lessons  in  parliamentary  procedure.  It  was  a 
position  worth  about  ^300  a  year  and  was  chiefly  con- 
cerned with  the  preparation  of  documents  and  the 
distribution  of  the  agenda  papers.  It  was  in  the  gift  of 
the  Speaker,  and  usually  led  to  the  highest  positions  in 
the  official  staff  of  the  House.  Here,  as  son  of  the 
member  for  Wexford  as  well  as  in  his  official  capacity, 
he  was  brought  into  close  touch  with  the  Irish  Party, 
though  not  perhaps  with  Parnell,  its  leader. 

For  when  his  father  died,  according  to  Mr.  T.  M. 
Healy,  and  he  was  requested  by  his  constituents,  with 
whom  he  was  familiar  from  boyhood,  to  stand  for  the 
seat,  Parnell,  to  whom  he  had  written  to  announce  his 
intention  of  putting  up  for  that  constituency,  did  not  for 

the   moment   appear  to  remember  him.      Parnell  showed 

21 


JOHN    REDMOND 

the  letter  to  Mr.  Healy,  saying,  "  Who  is  this  chap  ? " 
"  Don't  you  remember  young  Redmond  that  hands  us  out 
the  programmes  !  "  returned  Mr.  Healy,  "  What !  that 
damned  fellow,"  was  the  leader's  remark  on  the  young 
man  who  was  later  to  be  his  champion.  Whatever  the 
rest  of  the  conversation  was  Mr.  Healy  does  not  say ;  but 
as  a  result  Parnell  asked  the  aspiring  member  to  stand 
aside  in  favour  of  his  own  friend,  Mr.  Healy,  who  was 
then  being  prosecuted  for  a  speech  in  his  native  town 
supporting  some  evicted  tenants,  and  his  return,  it  was 
thought,  would  be  a  blow  to  the  Government. 

Mr.  Redmond  retired,  and  though  had  there  been 
a  contest  he  would  probably  have  been  returned,  he 
made  one  of  his  first  speeches  shortly  after  his  father's 
funeral  in  favour  of  Mr.  Healy.  But  it  must  be 
admitted  that  his  rival  returned  the  compliment  when 
the  next  vacancy  occurred  some  months  later,  by  suggest- 
ing to  the  Irish  leader,  "  Why  not  return  Redmond  ?  " 

Accordingly — early   in    1881 — Mr.  John  Redmond,  law 

student,    became     candidate    for     New     Ross.      Captain 

William     Redmond,     his     brother,    then     in    the    Militia, 

according   to   another    unkind  story   told    by   Mr.   T.  M. 

Healy,  sent  a  telegram  from  the  barracks  in  Wexford  to 

the   effect,   "  For   God's   sake    don't   disgrace   the   family 

by    joining    the     Land    League   and    Parnell."     But   the 

Land    League   he    did   join   and    Parnell    too,    for   whom 

he  had  already,  it  appears,  shed  his  blood. 

22 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

The  occasion  was  at  Enniscorthy  shortly  after  Parnell 
had  returned  from  America  in  1880.  A  noisy  crowd 
of  some  five  thousand,  led  by  priests,  were  against 
Parnell.  They  would  not  allow  him  to  speak  ;  he  was 
struck  on  the  face  with  a  rotten  egg  ;  one  leg  of  his 
trousers  was  rent  from  top  to  bottom.  Redmond  was 
subsequently  walking  with  Parnell  when  he  was  knocked 
down  by  the  mob  and  his  face  cut.  "  What's  the 
matter  ? "  said  the  leader  when  they  rejoined  each  other 
at  the  railway  station.  John  Redmond  told  him  what 
had  happened,  "  Well,  you  have  shed  your  blood  for 
me,  at  all  events,"  was  the  reply.  Probably  this  was 
one  of  the  first  links  that  bound  the  two,  for  Mr. 
Redmond's  father  had  been  more  of  a  disciple  of  Butt, 
the  predecessor  of  Parnell  in  the  leadership  of  the 
Irish  Party,  Parnell  being  only  a  rising  man  when  the 
elder  Redmond  died. 

"When  I  entered  Parliament,"  said  Mr.  Redmond  in 
New  York,  reviewing  the  situation  some  years  later, 
"  the  British  public  was  in  the  very  midst  of  one  of 
the  most  desperate  of  the  Irish  crises.  An  Irish  leader 
had  arisen  who  had  taken  a  new  way  of  obtaining 
redress  for  Ireland.  Mr.  Parnell  found  that  the  British 
Parliament  insisted  upon  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  Ireland's 
claim  for  justice.  He  resolved  to  adopt  the  simple 
yet  masterly  device  of  preventing  Parliament  doing 
any  work   until    it    consented  to  listen.     In    this    policy 

23 


JOHN  REDMOND 

he  was  successful.  He  was  the  first  man  who,  as 
Wendell  Phillips  afterwards  said  of  him  in  Boston,  made 
John  Bull  listen  to  the   voice  of  Ireland. 

"  The  task  he  had  undertaken  was  a  desperate  one, 
and  at  first  all  the  odds  were  against  him.  He  was 
in  a  small  minority  in  his  own  party.  Isaac  Butt,  the 
leader  of  the  Irish  Party,  a  great  orator  and  consti- 
tutional lawyer,  commanded  the  allegiance  of  four-fifths 
of  the  Home  Rule  members  and  had  denounced  the 
new  policy  as  *  mischievous  and  insane.'  Parnell  him- 
self was  young,  inexperienced,  not  gifted  with  an  Irish 
fluency  of  speech,  but  on  the  contrary  weighted  with 
a  halting  delivery  almost  painful  to  listen  to.  All  the 
men  of  brilliant  Parliamentary  talent  amongst  the  Irish 
members  were  against  him.  On  his  side  were  only  a 
handful  of  young,  untried  and  inexperienced  members. 
More  than  all,  perhaps,  he  had  the  unwritten  laws  and 
traditions  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  combat.  On 
the  other  hand,  however,  he  had  to  sustain  him,  the 
sympathy  of  the  masses  of  the  Irish  people,  and  he 
speedily  found  within  the  four  corners  of  the  rules 
and  orders  of  the  House,  ample  room  to  obstruct 
public  business  and  to  paralyse  the  legislative  machine. 
. .  .  .Nothing  was  too  great  or  too  small  a  question 
for  discussion.  ..." 

All   this    was    witnessed   with  beating    heart    by    the 

people    of     Ireland.        Hope    in     Parliamentary     action 

24 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

revived,  and  day  by  day  Mr.  Parnell's  power  grew. 
Mr.  Butt  had  died,  his  successor,  Mr,  Shaw,  was 
poh'tically  a  cipher,  and  the  General  Election  of  1880 
saw  Parnell  safely  installed  as  the  leader  of  the  Irish 
Nationalist  Party,  and  his  policy  enthusiastically  adopted 
by  the  people. 

It  was  with  this  new  party  of  new  men  that  John 
Redmond  threw  in  his  lot  when  he  put  up  for  the 
borough  of  New  Ross.  The  election  was  quiet  and  un- 
contested ;  and  Mr.  Redmond's  speech  short  and  to  the 
point. 

There  was  a  crisis  in  Irish  history,  he  told  his 
constituents.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  constitu- 
tional government  in  Ireland,  though  England  posed 
as  the  champion  of  liberty.  The  Coercion  Bill  was 
an  open  declaration  of  war  upon  every  man  in  Ireland. 
The  duty  of  a  nation  menaced  with  such  a  measure 
was  plain — resistance  by  every  means  in  their  power. 
To  meet  this,  force  was  impossible.  He,  therefore, 
advised  passive,  but  stern,  unflinching  moral  resistance, 
and  such  a  work  was  in  his  eyes  righteous  and  holy, 
and  he  said  that,  as  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he 
would,  if  elected,  go  to  Parliament  filled  with  the 
desire  to  give  expression  to  their  eternal  hatred  of 
foreign  rule,  and  their  determination  to  stand  by  the 
present  agitation  until  the  land  of  Ireland  was  free,  and 
if  necessary  to  suffer  as  their  fathers  had  suffered  before 

25 


JOHN   REDMOND 

them    rather    than    desist    from    the    holy    enterprise    in 
which  the  manhood  of  Ireland  was  engaged. 

As  there  was  no  contest,  there  was  little  demon- 
stration, save  in  the  evening,  when  the  local  brass 
bands  and  fife-and-drum  bands  paraded  the  streets. 
And  after  Mr.  Redmond  had  addressed  his  constituents 
again  from  the  window  of  Father  Furlong's  house,  the 
crowd  dispersed  quietly,  and  went  off  to  their  homes, 
having  given  a  few  cheers,  though  they  had  to  be 
reminded  to  do  so.  "  But,"  added  the  local  journal,  as  if 
to  censure  the  apathy  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Ross, 
"a  magnificent  display  of  the  phenomenon  known  as 
the  Aurora  Borealis  was  visible  that  night  in  the  town ! " 

In  Wexford,  however,  the  native  town  of  the  family, 
the  news  of  the  election  of  John  Edward  Redmond, 
law  student,  of  40,  Charlwood  Street,  Belgrave  Road, 
London,  was  received  with  the  wildest  exultation.  Tar 
barrels  blazed  in  every  direction,  and  crowds  assembled 
round  the  monument  erected  to  the  new  member's 
father,  and  sang  the  "  Boys  of  Wexford "  ;  while  the 
inevitable  brass,  fife  and  temperance  bands  paraded  the 
streets  till  the  early  hours  of  the  morning. 

"I  have  no  hesitation,"  said  the  Rev.  P.  M.  Fur- 
long, C.C.,  introducing  the  young  Trinity  undergraduate, 
"  in  saying  that  in  Mr.  Redmond  we  shall  have  a  re- 
presentative still   more  in  sympathy,  if  possible,  with  the 

feelings   of  his  constituents,   and  the   Irish   people,    than 

26 


FIRST   YEARS   IN    PARLIAMENT 

our  late  representative,  and  I  am  sure  we  will  find  in 
him  a  standard-bearer  fully  qualified  to  bear  with 
honour  to  us  and  credit  to  himself  the  banner  of  our 
ancient  borough.  Though  young  in  political  life,"  he 
continued,  "  Mr.  Redmond  is  not  inexperienced  in 
political  life.  He  is  active,  and  is  gifted  with  much 
intellectual  power,  and  a  high  degree  of  eloquence.  He 
comes  from  an  ancient  Wexford  stock  whom  even  the 
breath  of  calumny  has  never  ventured  to  stain,  and, 
above  all,  he  is  filled  with  a  generous  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  Ireland  and  to  our  illustrious  leader,  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell." 

The  estimate  of  character  has  proved  accurate,   for  if 
there  is  anything  which  could  be  said  to  be  synonymous 
with  "  Redmondism "  it    is   the    whole-hearted    patriotism 
and    an    almost    fierce    attachment    to    the    leader   which 
distinguished   Mr.  Redmond  in  after  years. 

The  account  of  his  first  experience  in  the  House  was 
rather  dramatic  and  is  best  told  in  Mr.  Redmond's  own 
words  to  an   American  audience. 

"  At  the  moment  when  the  sheriff  declared  me  duly 
elected,  the  House  of  Commons  had  already  been 
sitting  continuously  for  some  twenty-four  hours.  The 
brunt  of  the  fight  against  the  Coercion  Bill  was  being 
borne  by  some  dozen  of  Mr.  Parnell's  most  active 
supporters ;    and    they    were    looking    anxiously    for    my 

election    to    send    them     a    recruit.      I    received    a    wiit 

27 


JOHN   REDMOND 

urging  me  not  to  lose  an  hour  in  crossing  to  West- 
minster. I  started  at  once,  and  travelled  all  night  to 
London.  On  my  way  I  received  another  wire  saying  the 
House  was  still  sitting.  I  reached  London  about  seven 
o'clock  on  a  dark  and  cold  winter's  morning  and  drove 
straight  from  the  station  to  the  House  of  Commons. 

"  And  it  was  thus,  travel-stained  and  weary,  that 
I  first  presented  myself  as  a  member  of  the  British 
Parliament.  The  House  was  still  sitting,  it  had  been 
sitting  without  a  break  for  over  forty  hours,  and 
I  shall  never  forget  the  appearance  the  chamber 
presented.  The  floor  was  littered  with  paper.  A  few 
dishevelled  and  weary  Irishmen  were  on  one  side  of 
the  House,  about  a  hundred  infuriated  Englishmen 
upon  the  other ;  some  of  them  still  in  evening  dress, 
and  wearing  what  once  were  white  shirts  of  the  night 
before  last.  Mr,  Parnell  was  upon  his  legs,  with  pale 
cheeks  and  drawn  face,  his  hands  clenched  behind  his 
back,  facing  without  flinching  a  continuous  roar  of  inter- 
ruption. It  was  now  about  eight  o'clock.  Half  of  Mr. 
Parnell's  followers  were  out  of  the  chamber  snatching  a 
few  moments'  sleep  in  chairs  in  the  library  or  smoke- 
room.  Those  who  remained  had  each  a  specified  period 
of  time  allotted  to  him  to  speak,  and  they  were  wearily 
waiting  their  turn.  As  they  caught  sight  of  me  standing 
at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  there  was  a  cheer 

of  welcome.     I    was    unable   to   come   to   their  aid,  how- 

28 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

ever,  as  under  the  rules  of  the  House  I  could  not  take 
my  seat  until  the  commencement  of  a  new  sitting.  My 
very  presence,  however,  brought,  I  think,  a  sense  of 
encouragement  and  approaching  relief  to  them,  and  I 
stood  there  at  the  bar  with  my  travelling  coat  still 
upon  me,  gazing  alternately  with  indignation  and  ad- 
miration at  the  amazing  scene  presented  to  my  gaze. 

"  This,  then,  was  the  great  Parliament  of  England  !  Of 
intelligent  debate  there  was  none.  It  was  one  unbroken 
scene  of  turbulence  and  disorder.  The  few  Irishmen 
remained  quiet,  too  much  amused,  perhaps,  or  too  much 
exhausted  to  retaliate.  It  was  the  English — the  members 
of  the  first  assembly  of  gentlemen  in  Europe,  as  they 
love  to  style  it — who  howled  and  roared,  and  almost 
foamed  at  the  mouth  with  rage  at  the  calm  and  pale- 
featured  young  man  who  stood  patiently  facing  them, 
and  endeavouring  from  time  to  time  to  make  himself 
heard. 

"  The   galleries   were   filled   with   strangers   every  whit 

as  excited  as  the  members,  and  even  the  Ladies'  Gallery 

contained   its   dozen    or  so   of  eager  spectators.     No  one 

knew  what  was  going  to  happen.     There   was  no  power 

under    the     rules    of    the    House    to    stop    the    debate, 

consequently  it    had    resolved    itself   into    a    question    of 

physical    endurance,    and    it  seemed    as    if  the    Irishmen 

battling  for  the  liberties   of  their   country   were   capable 

of    resisting    until    the     impotence     of     the     House     of 

29 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Commons  had  covered  it  with  the  contempt  and  ridicule 
of  Europe. 

"  At  last  the  end  came  suddenly  and  unexpectedly. 
At  eight  o'clock  Mr.  Speaker  Brand,  from  a  sense  of 
duty,  as  he  said,  and  acting  on  his  own  responsibility, 
and  in  d'lifiance  of  the  rules  of  the  House,  ordered  the 
debate  to  cease. 

"  The  Irish  members  endeavoured  to  protest  by  speech 
against  this  proceeding,  and  failing  in  the  attempt,  they 
rose  in  their  seats,  and  left  the  chamber  in  a  body 
shouting  '  Privilege,'  a  cry  not  heard  in  that  place 
since  Charles  I.  attempted  to  inv^ade  the  liberty  of 
Parliament.  So  ended  the  first  battle  over  this  Coercion 
Bill,  the  net  result  being  that  England  found,  in  order 
to  suspend  the  constitution  in  Ireland,  she  was  obliged 
to  destroy  the  most  cherished  tradition  and  most 
precious  possession  of  her  Parliament  :  the  freedom  of 
speech  of  its  members  ! 

"  The  following  day  my  membership  of  the  House  of 
Commons  actually  commenced,  and  I  had  an  experience, 
I  believe,  absolutely  unique  in  Parliamentary  history.  I 
took  my  oath  and  my  seat,  made  my  maiden  speech, 
and  was  suspended  and  expelled  from  the  House  for  the 
rest  of  the  sitting — all  in  the  same  evening !  It  was  not 
of  my  choosing  ;  I  had  the  distinction  thrust  upon  me. 
It  occurred  in  this  way  : 

"  The    excitement    of    the    previous    day    had     been 

30 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

intensified  by  the  news  of  the  arrest  of  Mr.  Davitt  in 
Ireland.  Mr.  Dillon  had  endeavoured  to  extract  some 
explanation  from  the  Government  and  had  been  named 
and  suspended,  and  then  Mr.  Parnell,  on  the  Prime 
Minister  rising  to  speak,  moved :  '  That  Mr.  Gladstone 
be  not  heard.' " 

What  occurred  afterwards  was  thus  described  by  an 
English  writer  of  the  time.  The  Speaker  ruled 
that  Mr.  Gladstone  was'  in  possession  of  the  House, 
whereupon  Mr.  Parnell,  rising  amidst  cheers  from  the 
Irish  members,  moved  that  Mr.  Gladstone  "  be  not 
heard."  The  Speaker  again  calling  upon  Mr.  Gladstone, 
Mr.  Parnell  shouted  out,  "  I  insist  upon  my  motion 
being  put."  The  Speaker,  having  warned  Mr.  Parnell 
that  his  conduct  was  wilfully  obstructive,  again  called  on 
Mr.  Gladstone,  who  had  not  proceeded  beyond  his  first 
sentence  when  Mr.  Parnell,  rising  excitedly,  insisted 
upon  his  right  to  be  heard.  "  I  name  Mr.  Parnell  as 
disregarding  the  authority  of  the  Chair,"  said  the 
Speaker.  Mr,  Gladstone  moved  his  suspension.  The 
House  was  cleared  for  a  division  in  the  usual  manner, 
but  the  Irish  members  remained  seated,  Mr.  R.  Power, 
the  Whip,  walking  round  and  round  as  a  shepherd's 
dog  guards  a  flock  of  sheep.  Mr.  A.  M.  Sullivan 
shouted  out :  "  We  contest  the  legality  of  the  proceed- 
ing," and  the  Speaker,  after  the  division,  reported  the 
matter  to  the  House. 

31 


JOHN  REDMOND 

"  For  this  refusal  to  vote,"  continues  Mr.  Redmond,  "  the 
Irish  members  were  suspended,  myself  among  the  num- 
ber. Having  been  suspended,  we  each  in  turn  refused 
to  leave  the  chamber,  and,  addressing  the  Speaker,  pro- 
tested against  the  entire  proceeding,  and  intimated  that 
unless  superior  force  was  employed,  we  should  resist. 
That  was  my  maiden  speech !  Superior  force,  in  the 
shape  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  and  his  merry  men,  was 
then  applied,  and  eventually  each  one  of  us  was  escorted 
under  arrest  from  our  seats,  and  thus,  as  I  have  said, 
my  Parliamentary  career  opened  with  the  unique  experi- 
ence of  taking  my  seat,  making  my  maiden  speech,  and 
being  expelled  by  force  from  the  chamber  on  the  same 
evening." 

After   the  excitement  of  this  first  experience  had  died 
down    John    Redmond    set    himself    to    study    his    new 
duties    at   once,  and  with  just  the  same  ardour  and  sue 
cess    as    he    had    displayed    in   his   school   days   and   at 
Trinity. 

He  did  not  at  once  come  forward  as  a  speaker,  how- 
ever, for  his  first  duties  were  those  of  Whip.  "  J. 
Redmond,"  writes  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy,  "was  a  man 
admirably  suited  for  such  work.  He  had  an  excellent 
education.  He  had  the  polished  manners  of  good  society. 
He  belonged  to  what  I  may  call  the  'country  gentle- 
man '  order  and  could  ride  to  hounds  with  a  horseman- 
ship which  must  have  won  the  hearts  of  the  Tory  squires 

32 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

from  the  hunting  counties,  and  above  all,  he  had  an  ex- 
cellent capacity  and  memory  for  all  matters  of  arrange- 
ment and  detail."  And  again,  "  It  was  a  great  part  of 
Parnell's  policy  that  there  should  be  a  powerful  Home 
Rule  organization  extending  over  all  parts  of  Great 
Britain,  founding  institutions  in  all  the  principal  cities 
and  towns  and  addressing  audiences  indoor  and  out  on 
the  subject  of  Ireland's  demand  for  domestic  self-govern- 
ment. John  Redmond  soon  became  one  of  the  most 
effective  organizers  of  the  new  movement,  and  one  of 
the  most  powerful  pleaders  of  the  Cause  on  the  public 
platform." 

His  own  enthusiasm  he  communicated  to  the  young 
men  of  the  English  and  Scotch  cities,  and  even  to  his 
colleagues.  In  these  earlier  days  the  Parnellite  party 
did  not  number  more  than  a  dozen  or  so  of  members, 
and  as  it  was  not  uncommon  for  some  of  them  to 
deliver  ten  speeches  of  an  evening,  the  young  member 
was  kept  pretty  busy,  the  duty  of  selecting  and  putting 
up  the  men  devolving,  of  course,  upon  the  Whip. 
But  though  an  arduous  post,  it  gave  him  a  very 
thorough  knowledge  not  only  of  the  rules  of  the  House, 
in  which  he  was  already  well  versed,  but  also  of  the 
moods  of  the  House,  which  it  usually  takes  a  man  years 
to  discover.  And  gradually,  as  the  success  of  the  out- 
side organization  began  to  bear  fruit  and  the  disciplined 
forces    of    the    Irish    members    inside     began    to    have 

33  3 


JOHN   REDMOND 

some  effect,  the  young  Whip  found  he  had  to  shep- 
herd a  party  of  some  ninety  odd  members.  But  at  first 
he  was  looked  upon  rather  as  a  platform  than  as  a 
Parliamentary  orator ;  and  it  was  probably  for  this 
reason  that  Parnell  singled  him  out  later  for  the  Aus- 
tralian and  American  tours. 

Nevertheless  he  was  entrusted  with  very  respon- 
sible work,  especially  when  Parnell  was  in  prison 
together  with  many  of  the  other  Irish  members,  including 
Mr.  William  Redmond,  who  by  this  time  had  joined 
the  Nationalist  forces.  The  Kilmainham  treaty,  by 
which  Mr.  Parnell  was  released,  signified,  as  all  admit, 
a  moral  victory  for  the  Parnellites.  It  admitted  the 
failure  of  Coercion,  and  Forster,  its  chief  advocate,  was 
dropped  out  of  the  Ministry.  "The  first  indication  of 
the  coming  resolves  of  the  Government,"  writes  T.  P. 
O'Connor,  in  "  The  Parnell  Movement,"  "  was  the  reception 
given  by  Mr.  Gladstone  to  the  new  Land  Bill  brought 
in  by  Mr.  Redmond  on  behalf  of  the  Irish  party. " 
He  had  had  every  assistance  from  his  chief,  for  the 
Bill  was  drafted  inside  the  very  walls  of  the  prison. 

It  proposed  the  remission  of  the  arrears  which  blocked 
the  way  to  the  benefits  conferred  by  the  Land  Act, 
but  in  such  a  just,  moderate  way  that  Gladstone 
practically  promised  to  deal  with  the  subject  almost 
immediately.  Then  on  May  6th,  1882,  came  the 
Phoenix    Park   murders — one  of  those  great   catastrophes 

34 


FIRST   YEARS   IN    PARLIAMENT 

which  seem  by  some  irony  of  fate  to  come  just  when 
a  spirit  of  conciliation  among  Englishmen  has  given 
birth  to  a  new  era  of  hope  in  Ireland.  There  was  a  cry  for 
Coercion,  and  Ministers  felt  that  unless  Coercion  was 
dealt  out  with  a  liberal  hand  they  could  not  hold  office 
for  twenty-four  hours. 

To  John  Redmond  it  was  no  doubt  a  great  blow, 
expectant  as  he  must  have  been  of  the  possibilities 
for  good  contained  in  his  Bill  ;  but  still  greater  must 
have  been  the  shock  when  he  heard  himself  being 
described   as   approving   of  the    murders. 

"  I  was  at  Manchester "  (to  quote  his  own  account) 
"on  the  night  of  the  Phoenix  Park  murders,  and 
about  to  address  a  meeting  at  the  time,  when  an 
incomplete  account  of  the  affair  was  thrust  into  my 
hand  as  I  was  on  my  way  to  the  building.  I  learned 
that  Cavendish  and  Spencer  had  been  killed.  I  went 
to  the  police  station  to  make  inquiries,  but  they 
would  not  tell  me  anything.  I  made  a  speech  con- 
demning the  murder  of  Cavendish,  and  saying  that 
the  Government  were  the  real  cause  of  the  crime. 
The  Times  reported  my  speech  with  the  comment  that 
I  said  nothing  about  Burke.  Parnell  spoke  to  me  on 
the  subject.  I  told  him  I  did  not  know  that  Burke 
had  been  killed  when  I  made  the  speech.  '  Then 
write  to  llie  Times  and  say  so,'  he  replied.  I  wrote 
to    The   Times,  but  they  did  not  publish  the  letter." 

35  3* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

It  appears,  from  further  correspondence  that  ensued 
that  The  Times  had  not  received  it.  At  all  events, 
that   was   the   answer   given. 

The  next  few  years  were,  therefore,  times  of  trial 
and  suffering  for  Nationalists,  not  only  in  England  and 
Ireland,  but  all  over  the  world,  and  it  became  necessary 
to  organize  meetings  everywhere  to  defend  the  party 
against  the  charge  that  they  were  morally  responsible 
for  the  murders.  From  every  platform  they  had  been 
denounced.  The  Times  had  published  a  series  of 
articles  on  Parnellism  and  Crime ;  and  nothing  but 
a  vigorous  campaign  could  undo  the  havoc  wrought 
by  the  Press  in  bringing  the  Nationalist  cause  into 
disrepute.  It  therefore  became  a  question  of  choice 
of  the  speakers  most  suitable  for  the  work,  and  chief 
among  these  was  the  young  member  for  New  Ross, 
who  was  singled  out,  not  only  for  his  already  growing 
reputation  as  a  speaker,  but  for  his  singular  "  modera- 
tion," to  conduct  a  mission  in  Australia.  Thomas 
Brennan,  one  of  the  most  violent  leaders  of  the  Land 
League,  and  one  who  had  denounced  Parnell  himself 
as  "past,"  was  refused  point  blank  when  he  asked 
to  be  sent  to  Australia.  The  Australian  mission  is 
thus   described    by   Michael    Davitt : 

"  In  1882  the  organization  had  spread  into  most  of 
the  Australian  Colonies,  and  it  became  necessary  to  send 
out    some    prominent    leader   whose   representative   posi- 

36 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

tion  would  appeal  with  greater  effect  to  supporters  and 
members  of  the  Press.  The  late  Rev.  George  W.  Pepper, 
of  Ohio,  U.S.A.,  was  recommended  to  Parnell  by  Ameri- 
can League  leaders  for  the  mission,  but  a  better  and  a 
happier  choice  than  that  of  the  Ohio  Irish  American 
was  made  in  the  person  of  Mr.  John  E.  Redmond. 
The  member  for  New  Ross  had  already  made  his 
mark  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  an  eloquent  and 
able  debater,  and  he  was  in  every  sense  qualified  to 
perform  the   work   required. 

"  He  was  joined  later  by  his  brother,  Mr.  W.  H.  K. 
Redmond.  They  were  joined  on  their  arrival  by  Mr. 
J.  W.  Walshe,  and  forthwith  undertook  an  organizing 
tour  which  succeeded  beyond  anticipations.  Mr.  Red- 
mond's arrival  coincided  cruelly  with  the  examination 
of  the  Invincibles  who  were  implicated  in  the  Phcenix 
Park  murders.  The  evidence  of  the  informer,  Carey, 
hinting  a  complicity  in  these  crimes  of  certain  prominent 
Land  Leaguers,  was  cabled  to  the  Australian  Press  and 
created  such  anti- Irish  feeling  in  the  newspapers  and 
among  the  general  public  that  no  public  halls  except 
those  owned  by  Irish  organizations  could  be  obtained 
for  the  meetings  of  the  boycotted  envoys.  So  rabid 
did  the  feeling  become  under  the  daily  incitations  of 
a  bigoted  press,  that  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir)  Henry  Parkes, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  New  South  Wales  politi- 
cians,  actually    proposed   the    expulsion   of  the     Messrs. 

37 


JOHN    REDMOND 

Redmond  from  the  Colonies.  Even  hotels  refused  to 
give  them    accommodation. 

"  Staunch  men  of  his  own  race  stood  by  Mr.  Red- 
mond in  Sydney  and  in  other  cities,  and  his  own  cour- 
age, tact,  and  admirable  capacity  enabled  him  to  bear 
down  all  opposition.  His  was  one  of  the  most  difficult 
of  the  many  missions  undertaken  on  behalf  of  the 
movement  led  by  Parnell,  and  no  man  ever  acquitted 
himself  more  creditably  and  more  completely  under  the 
fire  of  a  relentless,  hostile  Press  and  in  the  face  of  a 
violent  public  sentiment  than  the  then  comparatively 
young    Irishman  did    in   his   Australian   tour." 

This  account  coincides  with  Mr.  Redmond's  own, 
given    in    Mr.    Barry   O'Brien's   life  of   Parnell. 

"  When  I  arrived  at  Sydney  the  Phoenix  Park  murders 
were  the  talk  of  the  Colony,"  he  wrote.  "  I  received 
a  chilling  reception.  All  the  respectable  people  who 
had  promised  support  kept  away.  The  priests  would 
not  help  me,  except  the  Jesuits,  who  were  friendly  to 
me  as  an  old  Clongowes  boy.  A  leading  citizen  who 
had  promised  to  take  the  chair  at  my  first  meeting 
would  not  come.  Sir  Henry  Parkes,  the  Prime  Minis- 
ter, proposed  that  I  should  be  expelled  from  the  Colony, 
but    the    motion    was   defeated. 

"  The  Irish  working  men  stood  by  me,  and  in  fact 
saved  the  situation.  They  kept  me  going  until  a  tele- 
gram    arrived     exculpating     the     Parliamentary      party. 

38 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

Then  all  the  Irish  gradually  came  around  and  ultimately- 
flocked  to  my  meetings.  I  collected  ;^i 5,000,  and 
went  to  America.  Fenians  did  everything  for  us  there. 
Without  them  we  could  have  done  nothing.  I  addressed 
a  great  meeting  at  the  Opera  House,  Chicago.  Boyle 
O'Reilly  was  in  the  chair.  There  were  10,000  people 
present.  It  was  a  grand  sight.  It  was  grand  to  see  the 
Irish  united  as  they  were  then.  I  was  escorted  to  the 
meeting  by  the  Governor  and  the  Mayor,  and  the 
streets  were  lined  with  soldiers,  who  presented  arms  as 
we  passed." 

His  speeches  on  these  tours,  afterwards  reprinted  in 
his  "  Historical  and  Political  Addresses,"  are  certainly 
good  examples  of  the  defence  of  the  Irish  cause  and  very 
clear  expositions  of  the  Irish  demands.  One  particularly, 
that  delivered  in  Melbourne  on  the  13th  June,  1883,  as 
to  whether  the  Land  League  was  really  responsible  for 
crime,  deserves  notice  ;  and  another  at  Adelaide  on  the 
objects  of  the  Irish  National  League.  In  these  he 
examined  the  charges  one  by  one  and  refuted  them, 
quoting  from  Mr.  Parnell's  manifesto  the  following 
words : — 

"  We  earnestly  hope  that  the  attitude  and  action  of 
the  Irish  people  will  show  to  the  world  that  an  assassina- 
tion such  as  has  startled  us  almost  to  the  abandonment 
of  hope  of  our  country's  future  is  deeply  and  religiously 
abhorrent  to  their  every  feeling  and  instinct ; "  and  again 

39 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Mr.  Parnell's  own  words:  "The  knife  that  killed  Lord 
Frederick  Cavendish  came  near  killing  with  the  same 
blow  the  Land  League.  We  were  at  that  time  in  a 
splendid  position.  We  were  in  some  sort  arbitrators  of 
the  situation  when,  four  days  after  our  liberation,  Lord 
Frederick  Cavendish  was  assassinated.  By  that  act 
nearly  all  the  ground  we  had  gained  was  lost." 

For  nearly  a  year  the  two  brothers  stayed  in  Australia, 
and  it  was  while  in  Sydney  that  they  both  met  their 
future  wives:  Mr.  John  Redmond  marrying,  in  1883, 
Johanna  Dalton,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Michael  Dalton, 
and  his  brother  marrying  her  cousin,  the  daughter  of 
Mr.  James  Dalton,  a  prominent  Sydney  man. 

While  they  were  in   Australia  the  danger  was  to  avoid 

being  too  disloyal :  in  America  the  danger  was  to  avoid 

being  too  loyal  !     But  in  spite  of  the  garbled  quotations 

from  his  American  speeches  which  can  be  seen  scattered 

through  Mr.  Chamberlain's  denunciations  of  Home  Rule, 

and  which  even   now    form    matter    for   building    up    of 

such  articles  as  "  The  two   Mr.  J.    Redmonds,"  there   is 

a  wonderful  consistency  between  the  two  sets  of  speeches. 

In  both,  while  appealing  to  the  loyalty  of  the  Colonies 

and    the    nationalism    of   the    United    States,  he    avoids 

extremes  and  strikes   the   golden    mean.    He    is    neither 

a    Unionist    nor   a  Fenian,  but  simply  a  Parnellite ;  and 

perhaps    he   never   so   clearly    expressed    that    harmony 

which  exists  between   the  Federal  aim  and  the  National 

40 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

aspirations  as  he  did  in  these  American  speeches.  In 
some  passages  he  seemed  to  gather  the  whole  of  Irish 
history  and  politics  as  it  were  into  a  nutshell.  One  in 
particular  is  worth  quoting  at  length. 

"The  principle  embodied  in  the  Irish  movement  of 
to-day,"  he  said,  "  is  just  the  same  principle  which  was 
the  soul  of  every  Irish  movement  for  the  last  seven 
hundred  years — the  principle  of  rebellion  against  the  rule 
of  strangers  :  the  principle  which  Owen  Roe  O'Neill  vindi- 
cated at  Benburb  :  which  animated  Tone  and  Fitzgerald, 
and  to  which  Emmet  sacrificed  a  stainless  life.  Let  no 
man  desecrate  that  principle  by  giving  it  the  ignoble 
name  of  hatred  of  England.  Race  hatred  is  at  best  an 
unreasoning  passion.  I  for  one  believe  in  the  brother- 
hood of  nations,  and  bitter  as  the  memory  is  of  past 
wrongs  and  present  injustice  inflicted  upon  our  people 
by  our  alien  rulers,  I  assert  the  principle  underlying 
our  movement  is  not  the  principle  of  revenge  for  the 
past,  but  of  justice  for  the  future.  When  a  question  of 
that  principle  arises  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as 
compromise.  The  Irish  leader  who  would  propose  to 
compromise  the  national  claims  of  Ireland,  who  would 
even  incline  for  one  second  to  accept  as  a  settlement 
of  our  demand  any  concession  short  of  the  unquestioned 
recognition  of  that  nationality  which  has  come  down  to 
us  sanctified  by  the  blood  and  tears  of  centuries,  would 
forfeit    all    claims    upon    your    confidence    or    support. 

41 


JOHN   REDMOND  ^ 

Such  a  contingency  can  never  arise  ;  for  the  man  who 
would  be  traitor  enough  to  propose  such  a  course 
would  find  himself  no  longer  a  leader.  No  man  can 
barter  away  the  honour  of  a  nation.  The  one  great 
principle  of  any  settlement  of  the  Irish  question  must 
be  the  recognition  of  the  divine  right  of  Irishmen,  and 
Irishmen  alone,  to  rule  Ireland.  This  is  the  principle 
in  support  of  which  you  are  assembled  to-day :  this  is 
the  principle  which  guides  our  movement  in  Ireland. 
But  consistently  with  that  principle  we  believe  it  is 
possible  to  bring  about  a  settlement  honourable  to 
England  and  Ireland  alike,  whereby  the  wrongs  and 
miseries  of  the  past  may  be  forgotten,  whereby  the 
chapter  of  English  wrongs  and  of  Irish  resistance  may 
be  closed,  and  whereby  a  future  of  freedom  and  of 
amity  between  the  two  nations  may  be  inaugurated. 
Such  a  settlement  we  believe  was  offered  to  us  by 
Mr.  Gladstone." 

He  was  not  sparing,  it  is  true,  in  his  attacks  upon 
English  rule,  but  neither  did  he  allow  himself  to  be 
carried  away  by  meaningless  vituperation  or  too  signifi- 
cant vindictiveness.  He  stood  where  the  Canadians  stood 
in  1839,  for  the  two  principles  of  religious  liberty  and 
political  independence.  "  If  at  the  bidding  of  England 
Ireland  had  abandoned  her  religion,"  he  told  his  hearers, 
"  and  consented  to  merge  her  nationality,  she  could  have 

been    to-day    the    sleekest    of    slaves,    fattened    by    the 

42 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

bounty  of  our  conquerors."  The  words  were  perhaps 
bitter ;  but  were  they  too  strong,  I  wonder,  bearing  in 
mind  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  martyrs  to  Irish 
freedom,  the  ages  of  stupid  persecutions,  three  wholesale 
confiscations  and  centuries  of  penal  legislation  ?  No 
student  of  history  or  patriotism  can  say  so  seriously. 
And  no  doubt  some  future  historian,  looking  at  the 
utterances  of  the  Irish  leader,  and  calling  to  mind  the 
state  of  society  to  which  they  referred,  will  exclaim, 
like  Hastings  recollecting  the  heaps  of  gold  in  the  Indian 
treasure  houses,  "  I  stand  amazed  at  their  moderation." 

In  fact,  one  is  very  struck  that  so  young  a  politician 
should  have  been  so  moderate  in  such  a  crisis  ;  but  in 
almost  every  exposition  of  the  Home  Rule  demand 
there  is  the  same  even-mindedness  in  pleading  and 
the  same  clearness  of  conception  in  defining  it.  One 
speech  in  particular,  delivered  in  Melbourne  in  July, 
1883  (the  Hon.  Francis  Longmore  being  in  the  chair), 
is  worthy  of  special  mention. 

"  What  do  I  mean  by  Home  Rule  ? "  he  said.  "  I 
mean  by  Home  Rule  the  restoration  to  Ireland  of  re- 
presentative government,  and  I  define  representative 
government  to  mean  government  in  accordance  with 
the  constitutionally  expressed  will  of  the  majority  of 
the  people,  and  carried  out  by  a  ministry  constitu- 
tionally responsible  to  those  whom  they  govern.  In 
other  words,  I  mean  that  the  internal  affairs  of  Ireland 

43 


JOHN   REDMOND 

shall  be  regulated  by  an  Irish  Parliament — that  all 
Imperial  affairs  and  all  that  relates  to  the  Colonies, 
foreign  states  and  common  interests  of  the  Empire  shall 
continue  to  be  regulated  by  the  Imperial  Parliament  as 
at  present  constituted.  The  idea  at  the  bottom  of  this 
proposal  is  the  desirability  of  finding  some  middle  course 
between  separation  on  the  one  hand  and  over-central- 
ization of  government  on  the  other.  Those  who  propose 
this  scheme  consider  it  is  undesirable  that  two  countries 
so  closely  connected  geographically  and  socially,  and 
having  so  many  commercial  and  international  ties,  should 
be  wholly  separated,  or  that  any  dismemberment  of  the 
Empire  which  Ireland  had  her  share  in  building  up 
should  take  place.  But  they  are  just  as  strongly  of 
opinion  that  it  is  equally  undesirable  that  one  country 
should  control  the  domestic  affairs  of  another  whose 
wants  and  aspirations  it  confessedly  does  not  under- 
stand, whose  various  needs  it  admittedly  has  not  time 
to  attend  to,  and  whose  national  life  such  a  system 
of  government  tends  to  destroy." 

Almost  immediately  after  his  return  from  his  mission, 
which  had  brought  in  some  ^^30,000  to  the  cause,  he 
finished  keeping  his  terms  at  the  King's  Inns,  in 
Dublin.  He  was  called  to  the  Irish  Bar  in  the  year  of 
the  first  Home  Rule  Bill  (1886),  while  a  year  later,  having 
completed  his  qualifications  for  the  English  Bar,  he 
was  called  as  a  member  of  Gray's  Inn. 

44 


FIRST  YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

The  part  he  took  in  Gladstone's  first  Home  Rule 
Bill  was  not  such  a  prominent  one  as  that  which  he 
took  in  the  second.  He  attacked,  as  he  always  does, 
the  principle  rather  than  the  details  of  the  Bill,  and 
showed  that  the  very  unity  of  England  and  Ireland, 
which  had  been  the  object  of  the  Union,  had  never 
been  attained.  But  for  the  most  part  he  covered  the 
same  ground  which  he  was  to  go  over  in  his  speeches 
on  the  second  Home  Rule  Bill  which  were  to  make  his 
reputation,  and  it  is  better  to  reserve  till  then  any 
criticism  of  those  forensic  abilities  which,  had  they  been 
exercised  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession,  would  long 
ago  have  placed  him  upon  the  judicial  bench. 

The  failure  of  a  measure  of  so  much  promise  as  the 
Home  Rule  Bill  of  1886  was  attended  with  the  usual 
and  inevitable  result  of  the  abandonment  of  a  conciliatory 
policy,  and  the  people,  exasperated  by  the  misgovernment 
of  centuries  and  the  loss  of  all  hope  of  redress,  broke 
out  into  open  agitation.  All  this  belongs  to  history,  not 
to  biography.  The  only  point  of  interest  is  the  personal 
one  that  Mr.  Redmond  was  singled  out  as  one  whose 
ardour  was  to  be  tested  by  a  term  of  prison  life.  To 
the  Irish  members  of  those  days  it  was  like  a  soldier 
coming  under  fire ;  none  of  them  thought  themselves 
worth  their  salt  till  they  had  been  through  it :  and 
certainly  Mr.  Redmond  looks  back  with  the  greatest 
sense  of  pride  to  the  event. 

45 


JOHN  REDMOND 

Accordingly,  in  the  courthouse  of  Ferns  various 
vague  charges  of  intimidation  were  brought  against  him 
and  Mr.  Edward  Walsh,  the  proprietor  of  the  Wexford 
People.  When  they  arrived  at  Ferns  they  received  a 
great  ovation.  A  crowd  with  a  band  was  in  readiness 
to  escort  them,  and  as  soon  as  Mr,  and  Mrs.  Redmond 
appeared  they  were  conducted  up  the  main  street  in 
triumph.  They  had  not  gone  far,  however,  when  they 
were  met  by  a  body  of  police  drawn  in  single  file  across 
the  road.  The  batons  were  drawn  and  the  band  was 
ordered  to  cease  playing.  They  refused,  and  only  Mr. 
Redmond's  timely  interference  put  a  stop  to  what  might 
have  ended  in  a  nasty  scuffle ;  but  he  could  not  suppress 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd,  who  accompanied  him 
wherever  he  went. 

The  charge  brought  against  him  was  that  of  intimi- 
dation. It  was  instituted  on  behalf  of  a  landlord  named 
Captain  Walker.  It  was  undefended ;  but  it  was  not 
necessarily,  therefore,  admitted.  The  following  extract 
from  Redmond's  speech  in  court  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  spirit  in  which  the  whole  affair  was  viewed  by  the 
prisoner. 

**  I  intend,"  it  ran,  "  to  call  no  witnesses  for  the  de- 
fence. The  facts  of  the  case  are  practically  undisputed. 
The  shorthand  writer's  report  appears  to  be  a  fairly 
accurate   one.     I    made    the    speech   in    question    and    I 

stand   by   every   word   of  it,    and    it    is    for   you   to   say 

46 


FIRST   YEARS   IN    PARLIAMENT 

whether  or  not  in  that  speech  I  have  violated  the  law. 
I  am  accused  here  of  using  intimidation  towards  Captain 
Walker  in  my  speech  at  Scarawalsh.  I  utterly  repudiate 
and  deny  that  accusation,  and  I  maintain  that  no  fair 
or  honest  interpretation  of  my  words  can  support  it. 
During  the  whole  of  my  public  career,  extending  over 
ten  years  of  stormy  political  life,  I  have  ever  denounced 
violence  and  crime  of  any  kind,  and  have  sought  by 
the  action  of  public  opinion  alone  to  stay  the  hand  of 
oppression  and  to  protect  the  people  in  their  homes. 
When  speaking  at  Scarawalsh,  I  spoke  with  a  grave 
sense  of  my  responsibility,  and  I  have  no  desire  to-day 
to  shirk  or  to  shrink  from  the  consequences  of  my 
words.  If  among  these  consequences  should  be  a  term 
of  imprisonment  for  me,  I  shall  bear  it  with  a  cheerful 
mind  and  the  easy  conscience  of  a  man  who  knows  that 
he  has  honestly  fulfilled  his  duty.  But  if  I  am  to  be 
imprisoned  let  everyone  clearly  understand  my  offence. 
Let  no  one  be  deceived  by  the  clap-trap  of  those  who 
assert  that  my  offence  is  an  offence  under  the  ordinary 
law.  That  is  one  of  those  half-truths  which  are  worse 
than  falsehoods.  Intimidation  is,  of  course,  an  offence 
under  the  ordinary  law,  but  I  could  not  be  found  guilty 
of  it  without  the  approval  of  a  jury  of  my  countrymen, 
indifferently  chosen,  and  I  venture  to  assert  without  fear 
of  contradiction  that  on  the  evidence  of  my  speech  at 
Scarawalsh  no  jury  in  Ireland  or  in  Great  Britain   could 

47 


JOHN   REDMOND 

be  found  to  convict  me.  No,  I  am  not  being  tried 
under  the  ordinary  law.  I  am  being  tried  under  an 
exceptional  and  oppressive  Act  of  Parliament  [the 
Coercion  Act],  which  outrages  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  constitution  and  robs  me  of  my  primary  right  as 
the  citizen  of  a  free  country — namely,  my  right  of  trial 
by  a  jury  of  my  countrymen,  indifferently  chosen.  I  am 
being  tried  before  a  tribunal  of  deputies  of  the  Execu- 
tive Government,  who,  though  they  combine  the 
functions  of  judge  and  jury,  are  neither  indifferently 
chosen  as  jurymen,  nor  independent  of  the  executive 
as  judges.  Condemnation  by  such  a  tribunal  will  have 
no  moral  weight  or  authority  behind  it,  and  will  be 
to  me,  not  a  reproach,  but  an  honour. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  have  now  finished.  I  invite  you  to 
proceed  to  deliver  judgment.  On  my  part,  I  can  only 
say  that  I  am  quite  prepared,  if  need  be,  to  go  to  prison 
proudly  in  a  cause  in  which  far  better  men  than  I 
have  in  the  past  sacrificed  liberty  and  life.  In  my 
case,  the  rigours  of  prison  life  will  be  sweetened  by 
the  consciousness  that  what  I  am  being  punished  for 
was  done  in  the  interest  of  my  constituents  and  in 
the  spirit  and  faithful  discharge  of  my  duty  to  them, 
and,  above  all,  by  the  consciousness  that  I  will  bring 
with  me  to  my  prison  cell  the  confidence  of  the  entire 
people  of  this  country  almost  without  exception,  and  the 

good  will  of  the  friends  of  Ireland  throughout  the  world." 

48 


FIRST   YEARS   IN   PARLIAMENT 

He  was  sentenced  to  five  weeks'  imprisonment — 
without  hard  labour,  but  nevertheless  as  a  common 
criminal ;  not  with  those  privileges  which  are  usually 
extended  to  political  prisoners  nowadays.  He 
accepted  the  sentence  with  the  greatest  pride  and 
satisfaction,  shook  hands  with  all  his  friends,  and  left 
the  court  amidst  such  tremendous  applause  that  only 
the  threat  of  clearing  the  court  altogether  silenced  his 
enthusiastic  admirers.  It  was  nevertheless  no  trivial 
matter  for  an  educated  man  of  refined  tastes  and  habits 
to  be  compelled  to  don  a  suit  of  broad-arrow  pattern  ; 
to  be  deprived  of  pen,  ink  and  paper  and  to  be  forced 
to  sit  for  days  and  weeks  on  a  plank  bed  reading  the 
Bible  !  In  fact,  as  he  afterwards  often  jokingly  referred 
to  it,  the  first  time  he  read  the  Bible  was  in  the  copy 
presented  to  him  by  the  late  Queen  Victoria — through 
the  prison  authorities.  His  health  began  to  suffer,  and 
he  lost  about  a  stone  in  weight  during  his  imprisonment. 
He  was  also  put  upon  a  diet  o^  bread  and  water  for  a 
while  because  he  refused  to  walk  round  the  ring  in  the 
exercise  yard  in  company  with  all  the  rogues,  vagabonds 
of  the  town  who  as  soon  as  he  appeared  among  them 
greeted  him  with  cheers  of  welcome  like  a  fellow  criminal 
in  distress  ;    and  he  was,  therefore,  removed  to  Tullamore. 

When  Mr.  Redmond  returned  to  Westminster  after 
serving  his  term  of  imprisonment,  one  of  the  first  to 
meet    him    in    the   lobby    and   welcome   him   back   was 

49  4 


JOHN  REDMOND 

Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  who  was  Chief  Secretary  for 
Ireland  at  the  time.  Soon  afterwards  Mr.  Redmond 
was  placed  in  the  most  difficult  and  trying  situation 
of  his  political  career  by  the  result  of  the  O'Shea 
divorce  suit,  in  which  Parnell  was  co-respondent. 
It  must  have  been  a  great  blow  to  the  man  who 
had  preached  Parnellism  and  loyalty  to  the  chief 
over  three  continents  to  be  faced  with  such  a  scandal ; 
but  if  he  was  one  who  must  have  felt  it  more  keenly 
than  anyone  else,  he  was  also  one  who  would  have 
preferred  to  cut  off  his  right  hand  than  turn  traitor 
when  that  chief  required  his  fidelity  most. 


50 


CHAPTER    III 

THE   TARNELL   CRISIS 
1890 — 1893 

TT    was,    politically   speaking,    the   second  Parnell  crisis 
that    made    John    Redmond.     True,    Parnell's    whole 
life  might  be  called  one  long  crisis,  and  the  Irish  Leader 
looked    on    more   as    an    institution    than    a    personality, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  was  the   Nationalist   movement 
personified.     No   sooner   had   the    Phoenix    Park    tragedy 
been  dissociated  from  his  name  (after  having  done  more 
to    wreck    his    cause    than    all    the    Unionist    arguments 
could   ever    have    accomplished)    than    Home    Rule    once 
more   came   to   the  front.     But    the    political   equilibrium 
had  hardly  been  thus    restored    when  it   was    once    more 
disturbed  and  the  whole  of  the    Irish  race,  at  home  and 
abroad,  were  swept  with   a   storm  of  dissension.     It   has 
been     generally    supposed    that     this    was    due    to    the 
divorce    suit.     It   was   nothing   of  the   kind :    it   was  due 
entirely  to   the   action   of  the  Irish    Party   in    Committee 
Room   15. 

That  the  result  of  the  divorce  proceedings  had  affected 
the  English  mind    no  one  for  a  moment  can   doubt,  and 

.51  4* 


JOHN  REDMOND 

that  the  proverbially  illogical  electorate  would  in  con- 
sequence withdraw  its  support  from  Home  Rule,  at  least 
temporarily,  was  equally  certain.  But  In  spite  of  all 
this  the  Irish  members  were  at  first  determined  to 
stick  to  Parnell,  On  the  day  following  the .  announce- 
ment of  the  verdict,  a  meeting  of  some  forty  members 
was  held  in  Dublin,  with  John  Redmond  in  the  chair, 
to  pass  a  vote  of  confidence  in  the  leader  ;  and  this 
resolution  was  endorsed  by  a  large  public  meeting  some 
time  later  in  the  Leinster  Hall.  Ireland  was  shocked, 
but  not  demoralized.  It  was  the  Nonconformist 
agitation  led  by  the  Rev.  Hugh  Price  -  Hughes, 
together  with  Gladstone's  letter  practically  ordering  the 
deposition  of  the  leader,  that  brought  the  crisis  to  a 
climax ;  for  the  Nationalist  advice  to  Parnell  seems  to 
have  been  contained  in  the  three  words  "  Retire : 
Marry:   Return." 

Speaking  some  years  later  in  America,  Mr.  Redmond 
explained  the  situation  thus:  "In  November  1890, 
Ireland  was  united,  her  people  at  home  and  abroad 
were  united,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Parnell. 
Suddenly  that  union,  on  a  particular  hour  of  a  particular 
day,  was  broken.  Who  broke  it  ?  It  has  been  said  that 
it  was  broken  by  the  lamentable  proceedings  in  the 
Divorce  Court  in  England.  I  say  that  statement  is 
notoriously  untrue. 

"  During  two  whole  weeks   after   these   proceedings   in 

52 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 

the  London  Divorce  Court,  Ireland  remained  true  while 
the  proceedings  of  that  court  were  discussed  in  public 
and  private  in  every  Irish  circle,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
fortnight's  discussion  I  assert  here,  as  a  matter  of  his- 
torical fact,  that  the  whole  Irish  people  at  home,  so  far 
as  they  had  spoken,  had  declared  with  one  voice  that 
in  their  opinion  the  continuance  of  Mr.  Parnell's  leader- 
ship was  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  Ireland. 

"  The  meetings  in  Ireland  were  attended  by  as  many 
as  forty  clerics,  conventions  were  unanimous,  and  the 
great  Leinster  Hall  filled  to  overflowing  with  half  the 
parliamentary  forces.  Suddenly,  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand from  the  leader  of  another  political  party,  Mr. 
Parnell  was  attacked  by  a  number  of  his  own  followers 
then  and  there,  and  thus  was  the  national  unity  broken, 

"Whoever  else  is  responsible  for  breaking  that  unity, 
we,  at  any  rate,"  he  continued,  speaking  on  behalf  of  the 
Parnellites,  "  who,  when  we  told  our  leader  and  our  friend 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  stand  firm,  meant  what  we  said 
and  afterwards  stood  by  what  we  said — we,  at  any 
rate,  can  never  in  the  pages  of  history  be  charged  with 
the  responsibility  of  having  broken  the  national  unity." 

The  question  was  therefore  one  of  expediency,  and 
considering  the  movement  was  the  man,  it  was  very 
doubtful  from  the  first  whether  the  cause  would  eventually 
gain  by  throwing  him  over.  The  years  of  barren  sessions 
that  followed    the   split  of  the  Irish  Party    are    the    best 

53 


JOHN   REDMOND 

answers  to  such  controversies,  and  the  final  reunion  under 
the   leader   of  the    Parnellites    is    the    best    tribute,    not 
to  the  loyalty  of  John   Redmond,     which    no    one    ever 
doubted,  but  to  his  intellectual  judgment  of  the  situation. 
All,  however,  did  not  take  the  same  view,  and  Justin 
McCarthy  was  the  foremost  of  those  who   had    tried   to 
dissuade  Parnell  from  issuing  the  daring   manifesto  pro- 
claiming   the   absolute   independence   of  the  Nationalists 
of  all  English  parties.     "  It  was  a   cruel  stroke   of  fate," 
he    wrote    later  in   his  "  Story  of  an    Irishman,"    "  which 
compelled    me   to   stand    forth   as    the  political  opponent 
of    Parnell,    to    whom,   as    a    leader,    I    had    been    most 
sincerely    devoted,    and    with    whom    I    had    had    many 
years   of  intimate   and    steady    friendship.      I    was    also 
brought  into   direct   hostility   with    men    like   John   Red- 
mond   and    many   others   who   had   been   colleagues    and 
close  friends  of  mine  for  a  long  time,  and  whose  motives 
in      this     crisis     of    political     disruption     I     thoroughly 
appreciated.      I    quite   understood   why   these   men    were 
upholding  Parnell.     They  believed  him    to    be    the    best 
leader  of  the    Irish   people,  and   they   could   not   see   the 
rightfulness  of  withdrawing   from   his   leadership  because 
he    had    committed    an     offence     against    the     laws     of 
private  morality." 

The  trial  of  Parnell  by  his  colleagues  was  worthy  of 
Westminster  Hall  for  dramatic  importance.  At  all 
events    it    made    a     small     Committee    Room    historical. 

54 


THE   PARNELL  [CRISIS 

The  scene  was  tragic  in  the  extreme :  the  points  of 
issue  tremendous.  All  the  past  history  of  Ireland  for  the 
last  fifty  years  hung  in  the  balance,  and  if  the  hands 
of  the  clock  of  politics  can  ever  be  set  back,  they  were 
set  back  on  that  occasion. 

Morley,  in  his   Life  of  Gladstone,  thus  describes  it : 

•*  It  was  the  fashion  for  the  moment  in  fastidious 
reactionary  quarters,  to  speak  of  the  actors  in  this 
ordeal  as  a  hustling  group  of  yelling  rowdies.  Seldom 
have  terms  so  censorious  been  more  misplaced.  All  de- 
pends on  the  point  of  view.  Men  on  a  raft  in  a  boiling  sea 
have  something  to  think  of  besides  deportment  and 
the  graces  of  serenity.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  even  hostile 
judges  then  and  since  agreed  that  no  case  was  ever 
better  opened  within  the  walls  of  Westminster  than  in 
the  three  speeches  made  on  the  first  day  by  Mr,  Sexton 
and  Mr.  Healy  on  the  one  side  and  Mr.  Redmond 
on  the  other.  In  gravity,  dignity,  acute  perception  and 
that  good  faith  which  is  the  soul  of  real  as  distinct 
from  spurious  debate,  the  Parliamentary  critic  recognizes 
them  all  of  the  first  order." 

It  was  then  for  the  first  time  that  Mr.  Redmond 
took  his  place  among  the  foremost  of  the  men  in  the 
party,  and  his  devotion  to  the  leader  was  second  only 
to  his  devotion  to  the  cause. 

"  I  am  quite  certain,"  writes  Mr,  Justin  McCarthy, 
"  that  Parnell  himself  did  not,  until  the  great  crisis  came 

55 


JOHN   REDMOND 

in  the  Irish  Nationalist  Party,  fully  appreciate  the  politi- 
cal capacity  of  John  Redmond.  Parnell  always  regarded 
him  as  both  useful  and  ornamental — useful  in  managing 
the  business  of  the  party  and  ornamental  as  a  brilliant 
speaker  on  a  public  platform.  But  he  did  not  appear  to 
know,  and  indeed  had  no  means  of  knowing,  that  Red- 
mond had  in  himself  the  qualifications  of  a  party  leader 
and  the  debating  power  which  could  make  him  an  in- 
fluence in  the  House  of  Commons.  But  when  the  great 
crisis  came  in  the  affairs  of  the  party,  then  Redmond 
was  soon  able  to  prove  himself  made  of  stronger  metal 
than  even  his  leader  had  supposed.  During  all  the  de- 
bates in  Committee  Room  15,  John  Redmond  took  the 
leading  part  on  the  side  of  the  minority.  He  became 
the  foremost  champion  of  Parnell's  leadership.  The 
position  seemed  to  him  in  the  nature  of  things.  I  well 
remember  the  ability  and  the  eloquence  which  he  dis- 
played in  these  debates  and  the  telling  manner  in  which 
he  put  his  arguments  and  his  appeals,  and  the  course  he 
took  was  all  the  more  to  his  credit,  because  Parnell  had 
never  singled  him  out  as  an  object  of  special  favour,  and, 
indeed,  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  us,  had  not  done  full 
justice  to  his  services  in  the  House  of  Commons." 

The  question  of  the  leadership  was  a  delicate  one ; 
but  it  was  far  less  a  question  of  ethics  than  of  practical 
politics.  There  was  a  principle  involved  which  was 
quite    impersonal,    and    it   was   this   principle   for   which 

56 


I'l-oin  a  I'lioto'hy .Mnti-ll  <(■  Fo.r. 

CHARLES    STEWART    PARNELL. 


[To  face  p.  56, 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 

Parnell  stood,  and  it  was  this  principle  for  which 
Redmond  stood  also.  It  was  the  absence  of  that 
principle  which  weakened  almost  to  death  the  Irish 
Party  during  the  split,  and  it  was  that  principle  which 
actuated  the  later  Parnellites  and  eventually  brought 
about  reunion  of  the  Anti-Parnellites  under  the  leader 
of  that    minority. 

That  principle  is  contained  in  one  paragraph  of  the 
famous  Parnell  manifesto,  and  is  significant  as  the 
guiding  principle  in  Irish  politics  of  to-day  : 

"  Sixteen  years  ago,"  it  ran,  "  I  conceived  the  idea 
of  an  Irish  Parliamentary  party  independent  of  all 
English  parties.  Ten  years  ago  I  was  elected  the  leader 
of  an  independent  Irish  Parliamentary  party.  During 
these  ten  years  that  party  has  remained  independent, 
and  because  of  its  independence  it  has  forced  upon 
the  English  people  the  necessity  of  granting  Home 
Rule  to  Ireland,  I  believe  that  party  will  obtain  Home 
Rule  only  provided  it  remains  independent  of  any 
English  party." 

It  was,  of  course,  a  matter  of  speculation  how  far 
the  election  of  Parnell,  or  rather  his  retention,  would 
endanger  Home  Rule.  He  did  not  himself  anticipate  it 
would  have  any  ill  effects  on  the  movement  ;  but  what 
he  felt  most  was  the  violated  independence  of  the 
party  in  submitting  to  English  dictation.  John  Red- 
mond  took  up  exactly  the  same  stand,  as  is  shown  by 

57 


JOHN   REDMOND 

his  speeches.  He  admitted  that  the  retention  of  Parnell 
as  leader  might  influence  the  vote  of  the  British  elec- 
torate, but  denied  that  it  would  alter  the  eventual 
result,  and,  as  Morley  notes,  that  the  split  which  would 
ensue  would  be  far  more  serious  in  its  effects  on  public 
opinion  both  in  England  and  Ireland.  Even  going 
further  and  admitting  Parnell's  guilt,  it  was  a  question 
whether  the  prospects  offered  were  worth  the  sacrifice. 
And  if  it  be  admitted  that  the  sacrifice  was  obligatory 
upon  the  Irish  party,  it  must  likewise  have  been 
obligatory  upon  our  ancestors  in  the  case  of  some  of 
the  heroes  of  the  past.  Yet  who  would  have  thought  of 
deposing  Napoleon  on  the  eve  of  Waterloo,  or  Nelson 
on  the  very  day  of  Trafalgar? 

John  Redmond's  speech  in  Committee  Room  15 
struck  the  keynote  of  the  situation.  It  was  calm, 
short,  and  to  the  point,  as  the  following  extract  will 
show : 

"When  it  becomes  a  question  of  selling  our  leader, 
to  buy  an  alliance,"  he  began,  "it  would  be  well  to  see 
what  we  were  getting  for  the  price.  First,  it  seems  to 
me,  that  in  selling  our  leader  in  order  to  preserve  the 
Liberal  alliance,  we  are  selling  absolutely  and  irrevocably 
the  independence  of  the  Irish  party.  This  party  has 
been  powerful  only  because  it  has  been  independent ; 
every  Irish  party  that  ever  existed  in  this  House  fell  in 
the  same  way — if  we  sacrifice  Parnell    to    preserve    this 

58 


THE  PARNELLj:  CRISIS 

alliance  the  days  in  our  generation  of  the  independence 
of  the  Irish  party  are  at  an  end.  Mr.  Gladstone  would 
be  absolutely  unfettered,  and  he  would  have  the  Irish 
party,  so  to  speak,  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  it 
would  be  a  discredited  and  powerless  tool  of  the  Liberal 
party.  As  to  your  retention  being  a  danger  to  the 
Irish  cause,  and  the  Home  Rule  cause,  I  do  not  believe 
that  it  is  a  real  danger,  and  these  are  reasons  why  I 
do  not  believe  my  friend  Mr.  Sexton's  argument  is  a 
sound  one  when  he  says,  that  this  matter  is  urgent 
because  this  alliance  would  be  broken  up  if  you  were 
maintained.  I  will  say  nothing  about  my  motive  in 
this  matter.  I  disdain  to  do  so.  My  public  record, 
without  any  boasting,  I  should  say  entitles  me  to 
entertain  the  belief  that  whatever  course  I  take  the 
more  people  will  believe  that  I  am  actuated  by  the 
highest  motives  of  patriotism. 

"  It  is  true  I  have  a  feeling  of  personal  loyalty  to 
you,"  he  went  on,  turning  to  Parnell.  "  I  have  said 
elsewhere,  and  I  say  here,  that  you  have  been  my  friend, 
and  I  think  it  is  no  time  in  which  a  man  who  has  been 
once  your  friend  should  turn  against  you.  But  I  most 
solemnly  say  that  while  you  remain  my  friend,  and  my 
personal  attachment  is  the  same  to  you  as  it  always 
was,  I  declare  most  solemnly  that  in  this  consideration 
I  am  not  allowing  my  personal  attachment  to  you  to 
weigh   in  the   balance.     I    would    sacrifice   my   liberty    I 

59 


JOHN   REDMOND 

would  sacrifice  my  life,  I  would  sacrifice  the  liberty  and 
life  of  the  truest  and  best  friend  I  have  in  the  world, 
for  the  sake  of  the  independence  of  my  country.  It  is 
not  a  personal  motive  that  animates  me ;  it  is  because 
I  believe  that  your  maintenance  is  necessary  to  the  success 
of  our  cause." 

Mr.  Gladstone's  action  was,  therefore,  the  immediate 
origin  of  the  crisis.  But  what  made  the  situation  still 
more  acute  for  the  Nationalists,  was  the  fact  that  no 
one  knew  what  Gladstone's  real  intentions  were,  so  that 
they  might  be  going  to  sell  their  leader,  as  many  like 
Redmond  thought,  for  what  might  eventually  prove  a 
sham  Home  Rule  Bill  which  would  be  nothing  more 
than  an  insult  to  Nationalist  aspirations. 

On  December  3rd  they  tried  to  obtain  an  assurance 
of  the  intentions  of  the  Liberal  party  on  the  subject 
of  Home  Rule,  which  if  satisfactory  might  have  induced 
Parnell  to  retire,  and  at  a  meeting  afterwards  Healy 
and  Sexton  expressed  promises  of  conditional  future 
loyalty.  But  as  Barry  O'Brien  observes :  "  The  Liberals 
simply  regarded  the  Anti-Parnellites  as  a  lot  of  simple- 
tons to  allow  themselves  to  be  out-manoeuvred  by  this 
clever  device,  and  as  the  Anti-Parnellites  sank  lower 
and  lower  in  the  Liberal  opinion  after  this  incident  of 
the  struggle,  the  genius  of  the  chief  shone  brighter  than 
ever,  even  in  the  eyes  of  his  foes." 

It    was    agreed,    therefore,    that   a    deputation     of  the 

60 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 

Irish  party,  consisting  of   Mr.    Leamy,    Mr.    Sexton,   Mr. 

Healy  and  Mr.  Redmond,  should  seek  an  interview  with 

Mr.    Gladstone    to   ask   his    intentions,    and    report    the 

result  to  their  colleagues  in  Room   15. 

"  I  was  one  of  those  who  went  on   that  deputation    to 

Mr.  Gladstone,"  said  Mr.  Redmond   years    later.     "  I  sat 

for   a  considerable  time   in   his   study.     Mr.  Sexton   and 

myself  both  put  before  Mr.  Gladstone  the  situation  as  to 

Ireland  with  all  the  force  and  earnestness  at  our  disposal. 

We    told   him   that   if  Mr.    Parnell's   recollection   of  the 

Hawarden  interview  was  wrong,  as  he,  Mr.  Gladstone,  said, 

then  he,  Mr.  Gladstone,  was  bound  for  the  sake  of  Ireland 

to  clear  up  the  difference  of  recollection  by  stating  what 

really  occurred.     We  pointed  out  to  him  that  our  country 

at  that  moment  was  standing  on  the  brink  of  an  abyss, 

and    that    unless    some    way    out   of  the   difficulty   was 

found,  we  had  before  us  in   Ireland  a  future  of  disunion, 

of    internal    discord,    and    that    the  Liberal    party    had 

before  them  in  England  a  future  of  danger  and  difficulty, 

and    we    exhausted   all    the   words   of   persuasion,  and,    I 

might    say    for    myself,   of    absolute     entreaty,    in     our 

endeavour  to  get   him    to    say    one    word,    he    knowing 

full    well    that   if   that   word  were   satisfactory   the    Irish 

crisis    would    have    ended.      But    all     our   efforts  failed. 

Mr.    Gladstone,    for   what   reason    I  know   not,  unless  it 

be  that  Mr.   Parnell's  story  of  the    Hawarden    interview 

was  true,  remained  absolutely  silent." 

61 


JOHN   REDMOND 

All  they  could  get  out  of  Gladstone  was  simply : 
"  The  question  you  have  to  decide  is  the  leadership  of 
the  Irish  party.  I  am  not  going  to  have  that  question 
mixed  up  with  Home  Rule  ;  one  question  at  a  time. 
I  hold  the  views  on  Home  Rule  which  I  always  held, 
and  when  the  time  comes  for  introducing  a  new  Home 
Rule  Bill  you  shall  know  all  about  it.  Meanwhile  rest 
assured  that  I  shall  introduce  no  Home  Rule  Bill 
which  has  not  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  Irish 
party." 

"  It  was  an  interesting  game  of  tactics  between  the 
'  Grand  Old  Man,' "  as  Barry  O'Brien  goes  on  to 
observe,  "  and  the  grand  young  men,  but  the  former 
won."  The  report  of  the  delegates  was,  in  effect,  that 
Mr.  Gladstone  would  not  enter  into  negotiations  with 
the  party  while  Parnell  still  remained  leader.  A 
stormy  debate  followed,  in  Room  15,  and  at  last 
Mr.  McCarthy  rose,  saying  it  was  idle  to  continue  pro- 
ceedings longer. 

Forty-four  followed  him  out  of  the  room,  twenty-six 
remained.     Gladstone  had  split  the  party. 

Parnell   felt    the    desertion    keenly.      "Why    did    you 

encourage    me    to    come    forward     and     maintain     my 

leadership    in    the    face    of  the    world    if    you  were  not 

prepared  to  stand  by  me?"  he  asked.    At  the  same  time 

he  felt  the  loyalty  of  his  faithful   followers   with   all   the 

gratitude  which  a  man  in  sorrow  feels  for  real  devotion. 

62 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 

And  to  none  was  he  more  grateful  than  to  John 
Redmond,  who  was  constantly  at  his  side  in  the 
struggle  that  ensued,  and  upon  whose  shoulders  his 
mantle  of  leadership  was  destined  to  fall  after  his  death. 

The  Boulogne  negotiations  were  the  last  attempt  to 
reunite  the  forces  amicably.  They  lasted  for  about  a 
month.  The  name  "  Seceders,"  which  Mr.  Farnell  had 
fastened  upon  the  majority,  was  not  unmerited.  Their 
representatives  admitted  as  much  in  the  terms  of 
capitulation  which  they  offered.  These  were  nothing 
short  of  absolute  submission.  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy's 
election  as  their  leader  was  to  be  first  of  all  declared 
invalid,  and  then  both  Gladstone  and  the  Irish  Roman 
Catholic  bishops  were  to  be  prevailed  upon  to  withdraw 
their  public  condemnation  of  Parnell,  while  Parnell  him- 
self was  to  be  retained  in  the  presidency  of  the 
National  League. 

William  O'Brien  had  just  returned  from  America, 
hence  Parnell  was  anxious  to  have  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  him.  An  arrangement  was  come  to,  and  Parnell 
accompanied  by  the  two  Redmonds,  J.  J.  Clanchy, 
Henry  Campbell  and  Vincent  Scully,  crossed  over  to 
meet  him  at  Boulogne. 

There  were  many  accounts  published  in  the  press, 
Mr.  Redmond's,  quoted  by  Mr.  Barry  O'Brien,  being  as 
follows : 

"  When  we  arrived  we  went  to  an  hotel.    O'Brien  rushed 

63 


JOHN   REDMOND 

up  gushingly  to  meet  Parnell,  who  was  extremely  reserved 
and  cold.  He  saluted  O'Brien  just  as  if  he  had  seen 
him  yesterday  and  as  if  there  were  nothing  special 
going  forward.  O'Brien  plunged  into  business  at 
once. 

" '  Oh,  no,  William,'  said  Parnell,  '  I  must  have 
something  to  eat  first,'  Then  he  ordered  luncheon  and 
we  all  sat  down  and  ate.  When  luncheon  was  over 
Parnell  said :  '  Now,  William,  we  will  talk.'  We  then 
adjourned  to  another  room.  Parnell  still  remained 
silent,  reserved,  cold,  and  did  not  in  any  way  encourage 
O'Brien  to  talk.  He  looked  around  at  the  rest  of  us 
as  much  as  to  say,  '  Well,  what  the  devil  do  you 
want  ? '  The  rest  of  us  soon  withdrew,  leaving  Parnell 
and  O'Brien  together.  After  some  time  O'Brien  re- 
joined us.  He  looked  utterly  flabbergasted,  said  it  was 
all  over,  and  that  Parnell  had  no  intention  of  doing 
anything.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  made  any  proposals 
to  Parnell,  or  if  he  had  any  proposals  to  make.  He 
said  that  he  had  proposals,  but  did  not  submit  them  to 
Parnell,  as  Parnell  seemed  so  unwilling  to  talk.  He 
then  stated  the  proposals  to  me,  which  were  substan- 
tially, so  far  as  I  can  now  remember,  these  : — 

"  I.     The  retraction  of  the  bishops'  manifesto. 

"  2.     Some  acknowledgment  from  Mr.  Gladstone  that 

the   publication   of  his    letter    was    precipitate 

and  inadvisable. 

64 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 


K    -, 


3.     A  meeting  of  the  whole  party  in  Dubh'n,  with 
Parnell  in    the  chair,  and    acknowledgment   of 
the  informality  of  Mr.  McCarthy's  election  as 
chairman. 
"  4.     Voluntary   resignation  of  Parnell,  who   should, 
however,    remain     President    of    the    National 
League. 
"  5.     Election  of  a  temporary  chairman. 
"6.     Appointment  of  Dillon  as  chairman. 
"  I    went    immediately     to    Parnell    and    told    him    of 
these  proposals.     '  Ah,  now    we  have    something   specific 
to  go  upon.     Let  O'Brien  come  back.' 

"  O'Brien  came  back  and  these  points  were  discussed. 
Parnell  said  at  once  that  he  would  not  accept  the 
chairmanship  of  Dillon,  but  he  would  with  pleasure 
accept  the  chairmanship  of  O'Brien.  O'Brien  and  I 
then  went  out  and  wired  to  Dillon,  saying  that  Parnell 
had  proposed  that  O'Brien  should  be  leader  of  the 
party.  Dillon  wired  back  warning  O'Brien  to  beware 
of  Parnell,  and  not  to  trust  him.  Such,  at  least,  is 
my  recollection  of  the  substance  of  the  telegram. 
Next  day  Parnell  returned  to  London,  and  I  went  to 
Paris  with  O'Brien,  where  I  remained  for  some  eight 
or   ten    days.     Nothing   so   far   was    settled." 

Another  interview  with  Parnell  took  place,  which 
Mr.  Redmond  thus  described :  "  I  saw  him  alone  first, 
and    we    had    a   short   private   talk   about    O'Brien's   new 

65  5 


JOHN    REDMOND 

plan.  He  said  nothing,  but  looked  at  me  with  an 
amused,  and  an  amusing  smile.  I  could  not  help 
feeling  what  a  pair  of  children  O'Brien  and  I  were  in 
the  hands  of  this  man.  The  meaning  of  the  smile 
was  as  plain  as  words.  It  meant  :  '  Well,  really,  you 
are   excellent   fellows,    right   good    fellows,    but   'pon    my 

soul,    a   d d    pair   of  fools  ;    sending  William  O'Brien 

to  Hawarden  to  negotiate  with  Mr.  Gladstone ! 
Delightful.'  Well,  he  simply  smiled  William  O'Brien's 
plan  out  of  existence,  and  stuck  to  his  original  pro- 
posal. Next  day  he  went  back  to  London  and  I  went 
with  him." 

From  that  moment  the  whole  affair  of  the  leadership 
and  the  policy  of  the  party  became  the  centre  of  a 
political  free  fight  in  Ireland.  The  champion  of  Irish 
rights,  Mr.  Gladstone  became  "  the  grand  old  spider "  ; 
the  Anti-Parnellites — "  the  miserable  gutter-sparrows,  and 
kept  slaves  of  an  English  political  party,"  and  every 
tavern,  drawing-room  and  presbytery  in  Ireland  emulated 
the  scenes  that  had  taken  place  in  Committee  Room  15. 

After  the  failure  of  the  Boulogne  negotiations,  Parnell 

determined  to  fight,  and   John    Redmond    determined  to 

throw  in  his  lot  with   his    leader.       "It  was    observable, 

however,  that    among    Mr.    Parnell's    assailants,"    writes 

The  Annual  Register  for   1901,  "the  most  venomous  was 

Mr.  T.   Healy,    whose  attacks  were  rather  personal   than 

political,  and  who  violated  all   the   canons  of  good  taste 

66 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 

by  indecorous  and  ill-natured  allusions  to  Mrs.  O'Shea. 
Another  phrase  which  has  never  died  was  Mr.  Healy's 
declaration  that  he  would  "drive  Parnell  into  the  grave 
or  a  lunatic  asylum,"  while  at  a  meeting  of  the 
National  Federation  (May  20th)  he  said  that  "  if  anyone 
attempted  to  patch  up  the  present  differences  by  a 
'compromise  on  the  basis  of  the  continued  leadership  he 
would  be  simply  hunted  out  of  the  country  with  a 
kettle  tied  to  his  tail." 

Parnell  himself  made  an  able  defence.  He  fully 
granted  the  moral  right  of  the  bishops  to  interfere  in 
cases  where  the  question  of  morality  arose,  but  he 
maintained  that  both  by  acts  of  commission  and 
omission  they  had  publicly  forfeited  that  right  in  the 
sense  that  they  had  declared  it  purely  a  political  issue. 
A  few  days  after  the  verdict  of  the  Divorce  Court, 
the  Bishop  of  Meath  told  Mr.  Healy  that  Farnell's 
political  leadership  should  be  retained,  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin  wrote,  before  he  had  seen  Gladstone's 
letter,  saying  he  urged  Farnell's  retirement  not  on 
grounds  of  morality,  but  for  purely  political  reasons. 
And  considering  that  the  origin  of  the  quarrel  was  due 
to  Church  interference,  there  is  some  irony  in  one  of 
Archbishop  Walsh's  letters  to  the  National  Press,  in 
which  he  says :  "  I  am  deeply  convinced  that  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  ruinous  conflict,  even    for  a  little  longer, 

must   be    absolutely    destructive    of    every    hope   of   the 

67  5* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

establishment  of  Home  Rule  in  Ireland,  at  all  events 
in  the  present  century.  To  me  it  is  one  of  the  most 
obvious  truths  of  the  present  deplorable  situation  that 
the  fitness  of  our  people  for  Home  Rule,  and  indeed  for 
Constitutional  Government  of  any  kind,  is  questionable, 
and  that  so  far  the  evidence  of  that  fitness  is  somewhat 
less  clear  than  it  ought  to  be." 

It  was  all  the  more  ironical  considering  that  when 
Mr.  Parnell  made  what  in  Protestant  England  was 
understood  as  moral  amends  by  marrying  Mrs.  O'Shea, 
a  general  meeting  of  the  bishops  at  Maynooth  still 
continued  the  embroglio  between  morality  and  politics 
by  recording  "  the  solemn  expression  of  our  judgment  as 
pastors  of  the  Irish  people,  that  Mr.  Parnell  by  his 
public  misconduct  has  utterly  disqualified  himself  to  be 
the  political  leader  ....  has  supplied  new  and 
convincing  proof  that  he  is  wholly  unworthy  of  the 
confidence  of  Catholics,  and  we  therefore  feel  bound  on 
this  occasion  to  call  upon  our  people  to  repudiate  his 
leadership  ..." 

In  the  end  all  principles  were  thrown  to  the  winds 
and  the  contest  became  one  purely  between  the  Church 
and  Parnell.  The  Freemati's  Journal,  the  leading 
Nationalist  daily  newspaper  in  Ireland,  for  a  long  time 
supported  the  laymen  and  came  into  collision  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Dublin,  who  branded  it  as  being  not  un- 
worthy of  the   traditions   of  the   Atheistic   Freemasonry 

68 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 

of  the  Continent.  "  The  men  who  dwell  with  prurient 
persistency  on  the  Divorce  Court,"  it  retorted,  "  are  the 
very  men  who  scoffed  at  it  or  passed  it  over  in  the 
beginning.  These  men  out  of  their  own  mouths  are 
bound  to  regard  the  issue  in  question  as  a  purely 
political  issue."  But  however  just  this  attitude  was  in 
theory,  in  practice  it  threatened  to  become  ruinous  to 
the  newspaper.  An  excuse  for  a  change  of  tone  was 
found  in  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Parnell  and  Mrs.  O'Shea  ; 
but  it  was  generally  understood  that  the  real  cause  of 
the  volte-face  was  that  the  commercial  got  the  better 
of  the  editorial  department,  for  a  financial  panic  set 
in  among  the  shareholders  of  the  Freeman's  Journal, 
and  with  one  bound  that  vigorous  organ  landed  in  the 
camp  of  the  seceders. 

One  of  the  last  significant  acts  of  Parnell  was  his 
going  down  to  Kilkenny,  where  all  the  priests  were 
ranged  against  him,  with  the  intention  of  expressing  a 
desire  once  and  for  all  to  put  an  end  to  the  interference 
of  the    priest  in    politics. 

Mr.  Barry  O'Brien,  who  tells  the  incident,  protested 
against  this  course. 

"  You  are  drawing  your  sword  on  the  whole  Order," 
he  said,  "instead  of  objecting  to  the  action  of  the  indi- 
vidual priest ;  O'Connell  could  afford  to  do  this,  you 
can't.     If  the  priests  have    to   be  fought,   they    must   be 

fought  by  Catholics,  not  by  Protestants." 

69 


JOHN   REDMOND 

"  Ah,  now,"  replied  Parnell,  "  you  have  said  some- 
thing which  is  quite  true.  A  Protestant  leader  must 
not  do  this.  But  the  system  must  be  stopped,  and 
you  Catholics  must  stop  it.  The  priests  theftiselves 
must  be  got  to  see  it  is  wrong." 

The  words  well  fitted  the  occasion  ;  and  they  became 
the  watchword  of  his  party.  But  how  far  the  struggle 
would  have  ended  eventually  in  the  victory  of  the  lay- 
man when  once  his  potent  personality  had  survived 
the  first  shock  of  opposition,  no  one  now  can  tell.  Nor 
can  any  one  say  whether  a  defeat  would  have  meant 
merely  a  postponement  of  the  struggle  and  the  awaiting 
of  another  leader.  Perhaps  that  strong  Nationalism, 
blended  with  a  supreme  respect  for  religion,  which  was 
later  to  characterize  the  leadership  of  Mr.  John  Red- 
mond, may,  after  all,  prove  the  best  solution  to  such  a 
difficulty. 

Suddenly,  like  a  bolt  from  the  blue,  or  rather  like 
that  cry  of  despair  which  arose  at  Hastings  when 
Harold  was  found  pierced  with  an  arrow,  came  the 
terrible  news  of  Parnell's  death  at  Brighton.  At  once 
John  Redmond  hurried  to  the  spot,  and  though  he 
arrived  before  the  remains  were  coffined,  he  was  not 
one  of  those  very  few  who  actually  saw  the  dead  leader. 
He  took  charge  on  behalf  of  the  family  and  the  party 
of  all  the  preparations  for  a  public  funeral,  and  brought 

the   body   to    Dublin,   where  it  was  solemnly  interred  in 

70 


THE   PARNELL   CRISIS 

Glasnevin   Cemetery,    close    to    the    grave    of  O'Connell. 
A    concourse   of  people    from    all    parts   of  Ireland    such 
as  had   never  been  seen  in   Dublin  since  the   funeral  of 
the  great  liberator   formed   a   procession  which    followed 
the  coffin  of  I'arnell  to  the  cemetery.     All  the  European 
Press,   from    Moscow    to    Rome,    was    stirred.      In    New 
York  all  the  flags  were  flown  at   half-mast.     The  feeling 
in    Dublin    was    that    he    had    been  "  done  to  death "  by 
the     Anti-Parnellites,    not    a    single   official    member    of 
whom    ventured    to  be  present   at    Glasnevin    Cemetery ; 
while    the    former     utterances     of     the     Archbishop     of 
Dublin,  wired  to  New    York,  only    fanned    the    flame    of 
hatred.      "  Archbishop     Walsh's     utterances,"     said     one 
public    speaker    there,    "  are    unpatriotic,     unchristianlike 
and   shocking.     There    can    never   be  union    between  the 
two  factions  until  the   priests  in  Ireland  are  driven  from 
the  platform  back  to  their  pulpits." 

But  the  matter  of  supreme  importance  was  the 
position  to  be  taken  up  by  those  who,  like  John 
Redmond,  had  made  the  retention  of  Parnell  not  so 
much  a  personal  question  as  the  protestation  of  political 
principles.  Had  the  whole  quarrel  been  one  of  loyalty 
to  a  chief,  he  could  have  at  once  joined  the  followers 
of  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy.  Had  it  been  a  question  of 
pure  vindictiveness  he  might  have  refused  to  join  hands 
with  "  the  murderers  " — to  use  the  phrase  which  used 
to   be  hurled  at  John  Dillon  in  the  Dublin   streets.     He 

71 


JOHN  REDMOND 

preferred  to  adhere  to  the  policy  which  he  believed 
was  at  issue,  and  in  this  he  has  carried  out  to  the 
letter  what  I  may  call  Parnell's  political  will.  It  is  to 
be  found  in  the  manifesto  issued  shortly  after  the  funeral 
by  the  followers  of  the  chief. 

"  On  the  threshold  of  the  tomb,  the  leader  whom  we 
mourn,  defined  our  duty  in  these  memorable  words :  'If 
I  were  dead  and  gone  to-morrow,  the  men  who  are 
fighting  English  influence  in  Irish  public  life  would  fight 
on  still.  They  would  still  be  independent  Nationalists, 
they  would  still  believe  in  the  future  of  Ireland  as  a 
nation :  and  they  would  still  protest  that  it  was  not 
by  taking  orders  from  an  English  member  that  Ireland's 
future  could  be  saved,  protected  or  secured.'  Fellow- 
countrymen,  let  it  be  the  glory  of  our  race  at  home 
and  abroad  to  act  up  to  the  spirit  of  this  message, 
God  save   Ireland," 


72 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE    HOME    RULE    BILL 
1893 

"  A/f^  heart  bleeds  for  the  poor  fellows,"  said  Glad- 
stone once  after  receiving  one  of  the  deputations 
from  the  perplexed  Nationalist  party  during  the  pro- 
ceedings in  Room  15.  If  Gladstone's  heart  bled  during 
Parnell's  life,  it  must  have  done  so  ten  times  more  after 
his  death,  which  added  the  bitterness  of  a  great  tragedy 
to  the  political  quarrel.  At  first  there  were  many  who, 
like  Justin  McCarthy,  thought  that  the  difference 
having  been  a  personal  one,  it  would  die  with  the 
person.  But  it  was  not  a  personal  matter,  it  was  a 
principle  personified,  as  soon  became  evident  both  from 
the  tone  and  the  action  of  the  Independents,  as  the 
little   band  of  Parnellites   were  now  called. 

Their  leadership  fell  almost  naturally  to  the  one 
man  who  had  so  championed  Parnell's  cause,  and  who, 
by  acting  as  chief  mourner,  and  undertaking  all  the 
public  arrangements  for  the  funeral  of  the  dead  chief, 
had  already  been  singled  out  for  that  position  by  public 
opinion.      Mr.    Redmond    was  officially  elected,   however, 

73 


JOHN   REDMOND 

a  few  days  later,  and  from  that  day  till  the  eventful 
reunion  of  the  two  sections  of  the  Nationalist  party 
ten  years  later,  led  what  then  was  thought  the  losing 
cause.  The  most  uncompromising  hostility  at  once 
declared  itself  between  the  two  sections.  The  death 
of  Parnell  had  been  too  tragic  for  his  followers  to 
step  over  his  grave  and  shake  hands  with  his 
"  murderers " — as  the  followers  of  John  Dillon  were 
still  called.  It  was  wild  rant,  perhaps,  that  dictated 
the  fierce  epithets  hurled  broadcast  at  everyone,  as 
T.  D.  Sullivan  observes,  but  it  indicated  the  Parnellite 
temper,  announced  the  Parnellite  decision.  In  that  de- 
cision there  were  hardly  two  more  prominent  men  than 
the  two  brothers  Redmond  ;  and  Mr.  William  Redmond's 
article  in  United  Ireland  struck  the  keynote  of  the 
extreme    Parnellite   sentiment. 

"  Hearts  are  beating,"  he  wrote,  "  and  eyes  are  glisten- 
ing with  a  secret  gladness  in  every  part  of  the  world  to- 
day where  the  blood-red  flag  of  England  floats.  The 
greatest  friend  of  Irish  liberty,  the  greatest  enemy  of 
British  tyranny,  the  one  man  hated  and  feared  before 
all  other  men  by  the  oppressors  of  Ireland,  is  killed  by 
the  foulest  slander,  hunted  to  death,  that  the  virtue  of 
Ireland  might  be  vindicated  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Pharisees  and  hypocrites  of  holy  England.  The  Non- 
conformist conscience  is  now  at  ease  ;  the  scandalmongers 
and  canters  of  Great  Britain  are  satisfied.     The   English 

74 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

eader  who  struck  the  first  blow  may  now  be  content 
— his  great  rival  is  now  no  more.  The  Christians  who, 
contrary  to  the  Divine  teaching  of  their  Master,  merci- 
lessly persecuted  the  chief  may  now  rest  from  their 
labours  :  the  chief  is  dead — all  is,  no  doubt,  well.  The 
virtue  of  Ireland  having  been  vindicated,  the  orders  of 
our  English  masters  having  been  carried  out,  the  noblest, 
bravest  and  truest  of  Irishmen  having  been  driven 
broken-hearted  to  the  grave,  Ireland  will  now  receive 
at  the  gracious  hands  of  England  some  measure  of 
freedom. 

"  Perhaps,  indeed,  we  may  be  ordered  to  forget  the 
very  name  of  him  to  whose  matchless  labours  any  liberty 
we  receive  will  be  due.  They  ordered  us  to  drive  him 
forth  ;  they  may  order  us  to  forget  him  now  that  he  is 
dead.  Liberty  is  now,  we  are  assured,  at  hand.  Yes, 
but  by  the  memory  of  the  dead  we  never,  never,  never 
will  forget  the  price  our  masters  exacted  for  it.  Millions 
alive  to-day,  and  millions  and  millions  yet  unborn,  will 
remember  that  before  England  removed  one  finger  of 
her  blood-stained  hand  from  Ireland's  throat  she  ordered 
us  to  break  the  heart  of  our  best  and  truest  chief. 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell  is  dead.  But  his  spirit  marches 
on,  and  to-day  over  his  freshly  turned  grave  we  renew 
our  allegiance  to  the  cause  of  Irish  National  Inde- 
pendence. Another  item  has  been  added  to  the  account 
which  Ireland  has  to  settle.     Some  day — it  may  be  soon, 

75 


JOHN    REDMOND 

it  may  be  late ;  it  may  be  in  our  time,  or  it  may  be 
when  we,  too,  are  in  our  graves — but  some  day,  as  surely 
as  the  sun  sets  over  our  heart-broken  land  to-night, 
that  account  will  be  settled  and  Ireland  will  pay  the 
debt   so  long  due." 

John  Redmond — "that  cold-blooded  young  gentleman," 
as  Mr.  William  O'Brien  once  called  him — was  perhaps 
less  emotional,  though  not  less  sincere  than  his  brother, 
for  he  thought  throughout  of  "  Paj-nellism "  as  a 
principle  of  action  rather  than  as  devotion  to  a  person- 
ality. Speaking  in  Clare  a  short  while  later,  where 
he  had  been  introduced  as  Parnell's  successor,  he 
emphatically  told  his  audience  that  they  were  wrong  in 
speaking  of  him  in  any  sense  as  "  the  leader  of  the 
Parnellites."  There  had  never  been  and  never  would 
be,  as  far  as  his  voice  went,  any  attempt  to  fill  the 
place  rendered  vacant  by  Parnell's  death.  He  believed 
the  man  had  yet  to  be  born  who  would  be  capable 
of  wearing  the  mantle  of  the  late  chief.  Parnell  was 
still  their  leader  and  they  were  determined  to  fight  for 
his  principles ;  but  they  were  fighting  singly,  and  as 
soldiers  in  the  ranks. 

Redmond's    first    action   was    to    put    up    for   Parnell's 

old  constituency,    rebel    Cork,    upon   which   the   whole   of 

political     interest     was    for   the    time    centred,    and    the 

greatest    excitement    prevailed.     But    the    result    proved 

somewhat  disheartening.     Alderman  Flavin,  the    nominee 

76 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

of  the  Anti-Parnellites,  was  returned  with  a  majority  of 
over  1,500  votes.  The  cry  of  "clerical  interference"  was 
raised  and  not  without  some  ground,  as,  according  to 
Mr.  Davitt,  one  influential  priest  spiritually  terrorized 
the  political  consciences  of  the  citizens  of  Cork,  and 
had  even  gone  so  far  as  to  declare  that  promises  made 
to  John  Redmond  were  not  morally  binding.  But  it 
was  generally  thought  that  the  fact  that  Redmond  in 
a  sense  represented  the  spirit  of  faction  had  also  some- 
thing  to   do   with    his    defeat. 

The  retirement  from  parliamentary  life  was,  however, 
only  temporary.  He  put  up  for  Waterford  City  a  few 
weeks  later,  Michael  Davitt  opposing  him.  Both  parties 
were  heated,  and  in  a  miUe  Davitt  was  cut  across  the 
temple  by  one  of  the  "  Redmondites "  while  he  was 
walking  in  the  street.  John  Redmond,  of  course,  made 
the  amende  honorable  and  denounced  the  action  of 
his  followers,  but  it  raised  no  little  ill-feeling.  Davitt 
declared  after  the  contest,  in  which  he  was  beaten  by 
500  votes,  that  he  owed  his  defeat  to  Terrorism  and 
Toryism,  for  all  the  Tories,  it  appears,  had  voted  for 
his  opponent. 

The  Waterford  election  was  looked  upon  rather  as  a 
triumph  for  the  Parnellites,  who  felt  that,  though  weak 
before  Parnell's  death,  their  party  would  have  to  face 
fearful  odds  afterwards.  For  they  knew,  as  John  Red- 
mond  had  himself  said,  that  it   was  to   a  certain   extent 

n 


JOHN  REDMOND 

a  forlorn  hope  they  were  leading,  and  they  were  quite 
conscious  that  their  action  would  mean  calumny  in 
public  life,  ostracism  from  social  life,  political  defeat 
at  the  polls,  perhaps  complete  extinction.  But  for 
this  very  reason,  he  maintained,  men  who  took  up  a 
cause  with  odds  like  these  against  them,  showed  they 
were  men  who  believed  in  their  cause  and  were  in 
earnest ;  and  as  men  who  believed  in  those  principles 
and  who  were  sincere  in  the  cause  they  had  taken  up, 
he  declared  no  number  of  defeats  would  drive  them 
a  single  inch  from  the  position  which  they  believed 
was  the  position  of  honour,  of  dignity  and  of  safety  to 
the    national  cause. 

What  that  position  was  Redmond  explained  a  few 
days  later  when,  at  a  meeting  of  the  National  League 
in  Dublin,  he  declared  the  policy  of  the  Parnellites 
more  in  detail.  He  stood  out,  he  said,  for  absolute 
independence  and  denounced  what  he  called  the  anti- 
Parnellite  spirit  of  "  devolution " — though  he  did  not 
use  the  word,  Mr.  Gladstone  would  in  all  probability 
endeavour  to  conciliate  British  opposition  by  conces- 
sions to  it  in  order  to  get  the  Bill  passed.  Mr.  Davitt 
had  declared  he  would  accept  anything,  however 
small.  John  Redmond  thought  the  right  policy  was  to 
strengthen  Gladstone's  resolution  and  not  to  allow  him 
to  whittle  away  his  Bill    till  it  pleased  the  Lords.     He 

believed  the  English  public  looked  upon  Home  Rule  as 

78 


THE   HOME    RULE   BILL 

an  expedient,  but  that  expedient  should  be  a  full  not  a 
half  measure.  There  was  no  question  of  separation,  but 
only  of  a  parliament  of  their  own,  supreme  in  Irish 
affairs  and  subject  only  to  the  veto  of  the  Crown. 
The  position  was  logical,  for  an  unconditional  promise 
to  accept  anything  from  Gladstone  would  not  only 
throw  away  a  golden  opportunity,  but  might  lead  to 
the  establishment  of  a  system  which  would  prove  a 
disaster  to  the  cause  instead  of  its  salvation. 

Upon  his  return  to  Parliament  the  new  leader  at 
once  declared  his  policy,  repeating  Parnell's  latest  de- 
clarations on  the  "  minimum  "  and  calling  on  the  Glad- 
stonians  to  define  their  proposals.  The  speech  was 
spirited,  and,  in  fact,  one  of  the  finest  in  the  debate  ; 
but  it  produced  no  little  friction  between  him  and 
those  who  followed  the  new  anti-Parnellite  principle  of 
accepting  anything  a  Liberal  alliance  might  bring.  His 
motion   was   only   defeated   by    179   votes   to    158. 

On  the  eve  of  the  General  Election  in  June,  1892, 
the  new  Parnellite  leader  went  over  to  New  York  to 
give  an  account  of  the  cause  the  Irish-Americans  had 
so  much  at  heart  and  to  plead  for  financial  support. 
It  was  a  delicate  mission  and  not  without  a  certain 
touch  of  pathos  that  the  young  leader  should  present 
himself  as  "  all  that  was  left  of  them  " — of  that  gallant 
brigade  whom  the  Irish  in  the  United  States  had  en- 
couraged   with    their    enthusiasm    and    their    wealth    in 

79 


JOHN  REDMOND 

order  to  help  the  chief  to  fight  the  battle  of  Ireland. 
Accordingly,  in  a  large  assembly  gathered  together  in 
the  New  York  Academy  of  Music,  with  Judge  Lynn  in 
the  chair,  Redmond  told  them  the  story  of  the  great 
disaster.  He  was  the  right  man  in  the  right  place : 
for  the  Irish-Americans  were  for  the  most  part 
Parnellites  to  a  man  and  they  welcomed  the  champion 
of  the  great  leader's  cause.  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Emmet, 
President  of  the  Irish  Confederation,  for  example,  had 
only  voiced  the  sentiments  of  most  Irish-Americans  when, 
shortly  after  the  chief's  death,  he  had  said,  "  It  would 
be  absurd  to  expect  that  the  mere  fact  of  the  death  of 
Mr.  Parnell  will  bring  the  two  factions  together ;  the 
Parnellites  are  more  bitter  than  ever  against  the  men 
who,  had  they  been  content  to  leave  him  and  his  work 
in  peace,  instead  of  worrying  him  into  his  grave,  might, 
they  think,  still  have  had  the  benefit  of  his  leadership. 
I  do  not  know  what  will  be  the  outcome  of  all  this ; 
but  the  Parnellites,  at  least  in  America,  will  never  accept 
the    McCarthyites  as  leaders.     Now  less  than  ever." 

In  his  speech  Mr.  Redmond  referred  to  two  points — 
the  first  was  an  apology  for  the  "  Parnellite  tactics,"  the 
second  an  apology  for  the  "  Parnellite  demand." 

In  the  first  portion  he  was  careful  to  show  clearly,  as 

we  have  already  seen,   that  the  unity   of  the   party   had 

been  broken  up,  not  by  the  O'Shea  divorce  proceedings, 

but   by  the  members   of  the   party,    and    those  members 

80 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

had  not  been  himself  and  his  colleagues,  who,  when  they 
told  Parnell,  their  leader  and  their  friend,  that  it  was 
their  duty  to  stand  firm,  meant  what  they  said  and 
afterwards  stood  by  what  they  said.  He  then  proceeded 
to  show  how  he  had  tried  himself  to  reunite  the  party 
upon  the  broad  platform  of  amnesty  and  had  been  met 
by  the  answer  which  he  read  to  the  meeting  from 
Mr.  Dillon.  "  Though  I  am  strongly  in  favour  of 
amnesty,  I  cannot  be  present  at  your  meetings,  because 
I  cannot  consent  to  stand  upon  the  same  parliamentary 
platform  with  the  parliamentary  supporters  of  Mr.  John 
Redmond,  who,  in  my  deliberate  judgment,  are  the 
most    dangerous   enemies   of  the    Irish   cause." 

Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor  had  suggested  another  policy  of 
conciliation,  which  was  to  distribute  the  Nationalist  seats 
at  the  General  Election  according  to  the  proportion  of 
gains  previously  made  by  the  rival  parties.  This 
would  have  enabled  the  Parnellites  to  avoid  any  un- 
seemly faction  fights  in  the  constituencies,  return  to 
Parliament  in  a  friendly  spirit,  and  accept  or  reject  any 
proposal  of  the  Liberals.  It  had  been  practically 
accepted  by  the  Anti-Parnellite  party,  seven  out  of  nine 
of  the  Committee  having  given  their  assent.  But  it 
was  abandoned,  as  Mr.  O'Brien  observed,  entirely  owing 
to  the  opposition  of  Mr.  Healy,  and  a  rather  dramatic 
touch    was    given    to    the    meeting    addressed    by    Mr. 

Redmond  in  New  York,  by  the  arrival  of  a  cable  from 

8i  6 


JOHN  REDMOND 

Dublin  which  confirmed  the  leader's  words.  It  ran  : 
"  Dublin,  June  15th.  Every  proposal  of  ours  for  peace 
has  been  rejected,  and  the  Whigs  are  now  determined 
to  expel  from  public  life  every  man  who  stood  by 
Parnell." 

How  far  persons  are  responsible  for  practical  dead- 
locks in  political  principles  :  how  far  Mr.  Healy  may 
have  been  justified  in  allowing  the  country  to  decide: 
how  far  the  arrangement  proposed  by  Mr.  T.  P. 
O'Connor  would  have  avoided  one  of  the  most  squalid 
faction  fights  between  priests  and  people,  which  took 
place  at  the  General  Election,  is  difficult  to  say  ;  but 
the  facts  of  the  situation  remained,  and  from  an  argu- 
mentative point  of  view  the  Parnellite  position  was 
tolerably  well  established.  It  was  rather  for  the  man 
who  had  deserted  Parnell  to  explain  his  position  or  else 
explain  the  words  which  had  done  more  than  any- 
thing to  strengthen  the  chiefs  resolve  to  fight  for  his 
leadership.  "  If  the  Irish  people  for  whom  he  has  done 
so  much,  for  whom  he  has  braved  so  much,  suffered 
so  much,"  said  Mr.  Healy  before  the  appearance  of  the 
Gladstone  letter,  "  if  they  were  so  frivolous  and  light- 
hearted  as  to  permit  themselves  at  the  first  sound  of 
this  wretched  and  unfortunate  case  to  be  dragged  away 
from  the  support  they  have  hitherto  accorded  Mr. 
Parnell,  all    I    can    say   is   that   this    Irish   nation    would 

be  my  nation  no  more." 

82 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

The  second  portion  of  Mr.  Redmond's  speech  at 
New  York  dealt  with  the  ParnelHte  demand  and  is 
very  significant,  in  that  it  contains  the  key  to  that 
difference  of  opinion  which  was  later  to  distinguish 
the  two  Nationalist  parties  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
"  I  believe  if  we  accepted  a  parliament  which  was 
bound  hand  and  foot  by  restrictions,  a  parliament  which 
would  not  have  the  power  of  ruling  our  country  in 
purely  Irish  affairs,  free  from  this  meddlesome  and 
ignorant  interference  of  English  politicians,  that  parlia- 
ment would  be  a  failure.  I  believe  it  would  be  taken 
from  us  again,  and  therefore  I  say  I  believe  it  would  be 
the  height  of  unwisdom  for  Ireland  to  accept  as  a  full 
settlement  of  her  claims  anything  less  than  a  full, 
honest  and  free  parliament — though,  of  course,  subject 
to  a  constitutional  veto." 

Then     by    way  of    a    final    declaration    of  the    future 

tactics  of  the  ParnelHte  party,  he  said,  "  I  have  been  for 

eleven  years  in  the  English   Parliament ;  when  I  went   in 

there   I  joined    a   party  of  about   a   score   of  men.     We 

had   the   open    hostility  of  every  English    party — Whigs, 

Tories,   Radicals,    Conservatives,    who,  differing   on  every 

point  of  policy,  were  always  ready  to   unite   against    us  ; 

but  if  they  were  ready  to  unite  against    us,  we    put   our 

backs  to  the  wall,  and  we  fought  each  of  them  in   turn, 

and  in  the  end  we  drove  from  power  by  our  votes,  first 

the    Tory    party,  then  the    Liberal    party — we    did  it  by 

83  6* 


JOHN    REDMOND 

independence.  Our  power  was  not  in  our  numbers — 
twenty  against  six  hundred.  It  lay  in  our  absolute 
disregard  of  any  interests  save  the  interests  of  Ireland  ; 
it  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  English  parties  never  knew 
upon  what  side  we  would  vote.  We  were  independents, 
and  our  votes  always  hung  in  the  balance ;  and  I  say 
that  our  power  as  twenty  men  was  greater  far  than 
would  be  the  power  of  eighty-six  united  Nationalists 
who  were  prepared  on  the  purely  Irish  question  of  the 
Irish  leadership  to  obey  the  orders  of  an  English 
statesman." 

But  far  more  important  than  either  domestic  squab- 
bles or  the  American  mission  was  the  plea  which 
Mr.  Redmond  continually  put  forward,  both  during 
Parnell's  life  and  since  his  death,  for  an  explicit  pro- 
nouncement from  Gladstone.  An  opportunity  offered 
itself  in  an  article  he  wrote  in  the  October  number 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  In  it  he  explained  how  he 
had  been  attacked  both  by  his  former  colleagues  and 
by  the  Liberals  as  merely  trying  to  embarrass  Glad- 
stone. It  was  as  if  a  common  soldier  wished  to  see 
a  general's  plans,  said  Davitt.  He  admitted  that  the 
Liberals  had  a  perfect  right  to  withhold  the  informa- 
tion, but  he  maintained  that  if  they  did  this  it 
would  in  no  way  advance  the  Home  Rule  question. 
It    had    been     withheld     before    the     elections,    it    was 

withheld   still.     They  were  to  be  offered  a  cut-and-dried 

84 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

scheme  to  be  accepted  or  rejected,  and  in  such  a 
way  the  Irish  question  could  never  be  settled.  "  For 
my  part,"  he  continued,  "  I  am  of  opinion  that  the 
first  essential  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  success  in  drafting  a 
satisfactory  scheme  of  government  for  Ireland  is  for  him 
to  know  the  views  upon  every  vital  point  of  all  classes 
and  sections  of  Irishmen,  and  that  no  Home  Rule 
scheme  can  ever  have  any  chance  of  acceptance  by  the 
British  people  unless  it  satisfies  the  demand  of  Ireland 
and  thereby  affords  a  final  settlement  of  the  international 
question  at  issue." 

The  point  was  the  very  centre  of  the  Parnellite 
position.  Had  Gladstone  given  the  deputations  from 
Room  15  a  satisfactory  assurance  on  this  point  Parnell 
would  probably  have  retired,  at  least  for  a  time,  from 
public  life.  Both  from  an  English  and  an  Irish  stand- 
point John  Redmond's  plea  was  therefore  perfectly 
logical.  It  was  hardly  fair  to  expect  the  Irish  party  to 
accept  blindfold  a  nonworkable  scheme  ;  it  was  likewise 
manifestly  unjust  to  expect  the  English  party  to  rush 
through  a  Home  Rule  Bill.  Hence  in  either  case  it 
was  unwise  to  withhold  the  scheme  from  Imperial 
discussion.  A  more  undemocratic  position  could  not  be 
conceived.  "  We  do  not  ask  for  a  repeal  of  the 
Union,"  Mr.  Redmond  said  ;  "we  ask  for  a  readjust- 
ment. In  any  case,  a  thorough  discussion,  not  merely 
in   Parliament  but  in  the  country,  of  all  the  vital  points 

85 


JOHN   REDMOND 

which  affect  an  Irish  Home  Rule  constitution  is  essential 
to  a  final  settlement  of  this  great  international  question. 
Ireland  has  nothing  to  fear  from  a  full  and  free 
discussion  of  her  claims.  Mr.  Gladstone  has,  I  believe, 
nothing  to  fear  from  criticism  of  his  scheme  if  it  has 
the  one  merit  of  being  thorough  in  character.  The 
sooner,  therefore,  the  discussion  commences,  the  better  ; 
and  it  is  with  the  object  of  stimulating  a  desire  to 
come  at  once  to  close  quarters  with  this  question  that 
I  have  penned  these  pages." 

In  this  view  he  was  not  alone,  for  Lord  Salisbury  had 
put  the  situation  in  a  nutshell  when  he  said,  "  Ireland 
has  been  invited  to  meet  her  future  fate  much  on  the 
terms  on  which  a  Turkish  bridegroom  is  invited  to 
meet  his  bride :  namely,  that  he  shall  not  know  her 
features  till  the  day  the  ceremony  is  to  be  performed " 
— while  Lord  Londonderry,  Viceroy  of  Ireland  in  the 
first  Unionist  Administration,  was  rather  inclined  to 
think  Gladstone's  reticence  was  because  he  intended 
to  take  up  a  milk-and-water  policy,  in  order  not  to 
alarm  English  sympathizers,  and  be  more  sure  of  their 
support  of  the  new  principle.  This  was  what  John 
Redmond  feared,  and  what  made  him  adhere  to  the 
Parnellite  policy. 

The  able  article  on  the  "Readjustment  of  the  Union" 
was  only  the    prelude    to  an  able  speech    in    the  House 

of  Commons.     From  that  moment  the  tone  of  the  Press 

86 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

changed  towards  the  young  member :  he  had  made  his 
name.  "The  personal  followers  of  Parnell,"  as  Mr. 
Herbert  Paul  notes  in  his  "  Political  History  of  Eng- 
land," "were  almost  wiped  out  by  the  elections — only 
nine  came  back  to  Westminster,  but  among  them  was 
their  leader,  one  of  the  most  powerful  debaters  in  the 
House  of  Commons." 

"  Redmond's  speech  was  a  revelation,"  wrote  Sir 
Henry  Lucy,  speaking  of  the  two  reputations  which 
had  been  established  during  one  of  the  first  nights 
of  the  Session,  "  while  Mr.  Asquith's  was  a  confirma- 
tion and  final  establishment  of  a  position  the  brilliant 
capture  of  which  has  no  parallel  in  modern  parlia- 
mentary history.  It  is  only  this  Session  Mr.  John 
Redmond  has  made  his  mark  in  the  House,"  he 
continues.  "  It  was  scored  when  he  delivered  a 
brief  speech  on  the  Address,  the  House  marvelling  to 
find  what  long  steps  he  had  taken  since — in  Mr. 
Parnell's  time — he  occasionally  filled  his  appointed  part 
in  the  task  of  prolonged  debates.  To-day  he  strode 
into  the  front  rank  of  parliamentary  debaters.  His 
manner  of  delivery  is  excellent.  He  has  a  melodious 
voice,  perfectly  under  control.  His  diction  is  pure,  free 
from  the  gaudy  colours  which  come  natural  to  some  of 
his  countrymen,  and  yet,  as  was  shown  towards  the 
end  of  his  speech,  capable  of    sustained   flights    of   lofty 

eloquence.     These  are  matters  of  manner,  and  it  is  truer 

87 


JOHN  REDMOND 

in  the  House  of  Commons  than  anywhere  that  manner 
makes  a  man.  Mr.  Redmond's  oratorical  style,  as  the 
House  discovered,  is  based  upon  a  substratum  of  solid 
knowledge,  sound  common  sense  and  a  statesmanlike 
capacity  to  review  a  complicated  situation.  Circum- 
stances happening  within  the  past  three  months  have 
forced  upon  the  leader  of  the  small  Parnellite  party  the 
necessity  of  tacking  ;  those  chiefly  found  amongst  his 
own  countrymen,  most  fully  acquainted  with  the 
exigencies  of  the  hour,  were  most  fervid  in  their  ad- 
miration of  the  skill  with  which  to-night  the  manoeuvre 
was  carried  out." 

When  Gladstone's  Home  Rule  Bill  of  1893  was  event- 
ually brought  in,  it  was  found  that  what  the  Parnellite 
leader  most  objected  to  in  the  Bill  was  exactly  what 
he  had  most  dreaded — its  want  of  finality.  What  its 
opponents  most  objected  to  was  also  the  want  of  finality. 
But  both  meant  different  things  by  that  "  want  of 
finality."  Mr.  Chamberlain,  who  from  the  first  fastened 
upon  the  phrase,  meant  one  thing :  John  Redmond 
meant  another ;  and  the  debates  became  at  times  a 
personal  duel  between  them.  It  was  upon  the  rock  of 
that  misunderstanding   Home  Rule  split. 

The     Redmondite      position      was,     in      constitutional 

language,     well      defended.       It    was     fought     by     Mr. 

Chamberlain   entirely   as    a    scare.      Its    workable    merits 

and    its   essential   principle    were    ignored :    its   "  possible 

88 


THE   HOME   RULE  BILL 

possibilities"  alone  were  dwelt  on.  It  was  an  interesting 
essay  on  government,  this  fight  of  the  two  great  Im- 
perialists. It  was  such  a  one  as  the  elder  Pitt  and  the 
Tories  must  have  had,  or  such  as  Fox  and  the  younger 
Pitt,  as  they  debated  a  century  before  the  great  questions 
of  Imperial  unity  for  Ireland  and  America. 

The  turning-point  was  Mr.  Chamberlain's  "  imperial 
scare "  as  Mr.  Redmond  pointed  out,  that  they  were 
accepting  the  measure  in  bad  faith  and  with  an  ultimate 
view  to  separation.  "  I  challenge  anyone  in  this  House," 
Mr.  Redmond  exclaimed,  "  to  quote  a  statement  of  mine 
or  any  of  those  associated  with  me  that  so  long  as 
we  remain  partners  in  the  Empire  at  all,  and  so  long  as 
the  Act  of  Union  remains  unrepealed,  the  supremacy  of 
the  Imperial  Parliament  is  to  be  or  can  be  abrogated.  ■ 
We  have  maintained  that  the  concession  of  free  institu- 
tions in  Ireland  means  that  you  have  put  trust  in  the 
Irish  people,  and  that  the  interference  of  this  Parlia- 
ment in  the  working  of  these  institutions  would  be 
absolutely  inconsistent.  Representative  institutions  exist 
in  other  parts  of  the  Empire.  How  many  of  them 
would  exist  in  six  months  if  this  House  took  it  into 
its  head  to  exercise  its  right  as  a  supreme  legislature  ? 
.  .  .  The  concession  of  representative  institutions  to 
Ireland  means  that  you  have  made  up  your  minds  to 
let  us  manage  our  own  affairs  free  from    the  interference 

of    the    Imperial     Parliament.       It     is     true    the     right 

8g 


JOHN   REDMOND 

honourable  gentleman  anticipates  that  the  necessity  for 
interference  by  this  Parliament  will  cease.  That  may 
be — I  think  it  will,  for  I  am  one  of  those  who  agree 
with  Mr.  Parnell's  opinion  that  the  Irish  people  under 
Home  Rule  will  be  shrewd  enough  to  know  that  any 
violation  of  the  Constitution,  or  oppression  by  that 
Parliament,  will  be  so  many  nails  driven  into  the 
coffin  of  the  Constitution,  and  I  do  not  therefore  think 
that  the  occasion  for  interference  will  arise.  If  it  does 
arise,  nothing  we  can  say,  nothing  we  can  do,  nothing 
that  you  can  put  into  an  Act  of  Parliament  now,  so 
long  as  the  Union  remains  unrepealed,  can  deprive  you 
of  the  right  to  control  the  Irish  Parliament  as  you  can 
control  the  Australian  and  Canadian  Parliaments,  and 
to  check  the  growth  of  oppression  and  injustice." 

The  second  argument  by  which  Home  Rule  was 
fought — the  clerical  scare — was  likewise  well  met,  and 
bears  quoting  as  a  statement  of  fact,  rather  than  as 
any  personal  animosity  aroused  by  the  Parnellite 
conflict. 

"  You    will    understand    me    when    I    say    that    I    am 

likely   to   give    impartial    testimony   on   that  matter,"    he 

said,   referring   to  the  charge  of  undue  priestly  influence. 

"  It    is     true   that    in    the    political     life    of   Ireland    the 

Catholic  priesthood  wield  an  enormously  preponderating 

power,  but  they  wield  it  largely  because  of  the  character 

of  the   struggle    the    people    are    waging.     Still,    I    am 

go 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

convinced  as  I  am  of  my  own  existence  that  the  politi- 
cal power — the  political  supremacy,  if  you  like — of  the 
Catholic  clergy  will  not,  if  it  is  tried,  be  used  success- 
fully under  a  free  parliament  of  the  Irish  people.  Surely 
the  events  of  the  past  couple  of  years  in  Ireland, 
instead  of  giving  alarm  to  the  Protestants,  should  give 
them  some  encouragement. 

"  The  honourable  member  for  Londonderry  said  in  his 
speech  the  other  night  that  I  ought  to  be  the  last  man 
hi  the  House  to  say  a  word  upon  this  subject.  I  say 
there  is  no  man  in  this  House  who  has  a  better  right  to 
speak  on  it.  I  and  my  comrades  sit  in  this  House  as  the 
result  of  defeating  the  unanimous  opposition  of  the  priests 
of  Ireland.  There  is  not  one  of  us  who  was  not  opposed, 
as  I  was,  determinedly,  consistently  and  unanimously  by 
the  entire  priesthood  of  Ireland.  Only  a  few  of  us 
have  been  returned,  but  I  ask,  when  in  the  past  history 
of  Ireland — even  when  the  right  honourable  gentleman, 
the  member  for  West  Birmingham,  was  thinking  of 
giving  over  education  without  restriction  to  the  people 
of  Ireland — when,  I  ask,  was  such  a  spectacle  afforded 
as  seventy  thousand  Catholic  votes  being  recorded  against 
practically  the  open  opposition  of  the  whole  body  of 
the  priesthood  of  Ireland  ?  I  say  that  it  is  in  that  spirit 
of  independence  to  clerical  interference  in  political 
matters  the  Protestants  will  find  in  the  future  their 
best  guarantee  and  safeguard." 

91 


JOHN  REDMOND 

He  argued  that  from  an  internal  economic  standpoint 
domestic  autonomy  should  be  granted :  he  showed  that 
according  to  all  ethical  standards  the  nation  had  a 
moral  right  to  it ;  but  he  laid  chief  stress  upon  Home 
Rule,  not  only  as  a  national  necessity,  but  as  the  very 
strongest  bond   of  Imperial  democratic  unity. 

Once  more  Mr.  Chamberlain  became  the  special  target. 

"  The  right  honourable  member  for  West  Birmingham 
has  another  argument,  that  the  Bill  will  lead  to  separa- 
tion.    He  said  that  the   Bill  would    change    Ireland    into 

a    foreign    and   hostile   country It   would   be 

well  for  them  to  consider,  however,  whether  they  could 
make  Ireland  more  foreign  and  hostile  than  it  ad- 
mittedly is  at  present.  But  in  almost  the  same  breath 
in  which  he  spoke  of  this  Bill  making  Ireland  a  '  foreign ' 
country,  he  said  it  would  put  her  in  the  position  of 
Canada.  Is  Canada  then  a  foreign  country?  The  idea 
is  almost  preposterous.  But  why  should  not  Ireland  be 
put  in  the  same  position  as  Canada?  'Because,' 
replies  the  right  honourable  gentleman,  '  Canada  is 
friendly  to  the  Empire  and  Ireland  is  not.'"  His 
answer  to  this  was  simply  history — and  certainly  the 
objection  could  not  be  better  fought. 

"In  1839  Canada  was  with  difficulty  held  by  force  of 
arms  for  the  British  crown.  Canada  was  in  open  re- 
bellion.    Canada  was  at  a  distance   from  England — close 

to  a  great  republic  which  was  certainly  not  unwilling   to 

92 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

incorporate  the  Canadian  provinces  with  its  States. 
The  experiment  was  tried  of  giving  Canada  Home  Rule. 
It  has  not  disintegrated  the  Empire." 

He  then  continued  : 

"  The  right  honourable  gentleman  says  Canada  is  only 
held  by  a  '  voluntary  tie '  (though  the  most  loyal  in 
its  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown).  But  does  the 
right  honourable  gentleman,  who  is  regarded  as  a 
leader  of  democratic  thought  in  this  country,  mean  to 
say  he  prefers  a  union  based  upon  force,  as  the  present 
union  with  Ireland,  to  a  union  which  rests  upon  the 
will  of  the  people?  Edmund  Burke  said — 'A  voluntary  tie 
is  a  more  secure  link  of  connection  than  subordination 
borne  with  grudging  and  discontent.'  So  say  we,  and 
so  also,  we  believe,  will  say  the  democracy  of  England, 
even  though  some  of  its  so-called  leaders  refuse  to 
trust  the  people  of  Ireland." 

Two  points  on  the  question  of  the  Irish  representation 
at  Westminster  are  worthy  of  note — the  one  that  would 
make  Ireland  a  mere  colony,  and  the  one  that  would 
give  Home  Rule  to  Ireland  alone. 

"  As  a  Nationalist,  I  may  say  I  do  not  regard  as 
entirely  palatable  the  idea  that  for  ever  and  a  day 
Ireland's  voice  should  be  excluded  from  the  councils  of 
an  Empire  which  the  genius  and  valour  of  her  sons 
have  done  so  much  to  build  up,  and  of  which  she  is 
to    remain    a    part."     In    support   of  the    federal  idea   he 

93 


JOHN   REDMOND 

added  :  "  I  look  forward  to  the  day  when  the  federal 
idea  may  be  applied  to  England,  Scotland  and  Wales, 
as  well  as  Ireland.  Then  the  character  of  the  so- 
called  Imperial  Parliament  would  be  changed.  It 
would  be  then  only  an  Imperial  parliament  and  all  the 
kingdoms  having  their  own  national  parliaments  might 
be  represented  in  it.  But  if  Ireland  alone  has  a 
parliament  of  her  own  .  .  .  you  must  allow  Irishmen 
who  had  sole  control  of  Irish  affairs  to  interfere  in, 
and  probably  decide,  English  and  Scotch  affairs — an 
obvious  injustice." 

The  words  are  not  insignificant  in  the  present 
crisis.  Probably  the  young  member  never  fancied  that 
he  was  to  become  the  political  dictator  of  England  ; 
but  the  idea  of  an  Imperial  parliament  open  to  the 
Colonies,  which  he  thus  presented,  may  yet  find  realiza- 
tion in  an  assembly  where  a  member  for  Dublin  will 
sit  between  a  member  from  Calcutta  and  a  member 
from  Sydney,  in  debating  the  fate  of  some  great  world 
policy  of  to-morrow. 

Whether  Home  Rule  is  a  cohesive  or  disruptive 
force  was  rather  well  brought  out  in  an  interruption 
of  Lord  Arthur  Hill's  in  the  debate.  "  I  would  ask, 
how  is  Ireland  held  now  ? "  exclaimed  the  speaker 
rhetorically.  "By  force,  of  course,"  answered  Lord 
Arthur  Hill.  "  I  thank  the  honourable  member  for 
the  word,"  replied  Redmond.     "  It  is  held  by  force ;   but 

94 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

does  the  present  Bill  propose  to  take  away  that  force, 
which,  I  presume,  means  the  English  army,  navy  and 
police  ?  No  ;  it  still  leaves  these  forces  under  Imperial 
control.  But  in  addition  to  physical  force  you  would 
have  working  on  the  side  of  connection  and  against 
separation  the  moral  force  springing  from  justice  con- 
ceded, which  the  English  government  of  Ireland  has 
never  yet  had  upon  its  side." 

In  conclusion  he  compared  the  mission  of  Mr.  Morley 
as  Chief  Secretary  to  that  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  before 
the  rebellion  of  '98 — when,  in  the  words  of  Henry 
Grattan,  the  noble  lord  was  offering  to  the  Empire  the 
affection  of  millions  of  hearts  : 

"  I  ask  you,"  was  the  somewhat  dramatic  peroration, 
"  is  the  offering  of  the  affection  of  millions  of  hearts 
which  the  Prime  Minister  is  to-day  making  to  the 
Empire  to  be  rejected,  as  was  the  offering  of  Lord 
Fitzwilliam  ?  One  thing  English  politicians  must  make 
up  their  minds  about,  and  that  is  that  this  question 
must  be  settled,  and  every  moment  of  delay  increases 
the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  position.  Every 
speech  conceived  in  a  bitter  spirit,  by  either  Irishmen 
or  Englishmen,  must  tend  to  increase  the  evils  and 
dangers  of  the  moment.  The  spirit  in  which  the  Prime 
Minister  has  addressed  himself  to  the  question  and  the 
spirit  of  large-heartedness  and  justice  which  he  exhibited 
has   called   forth   a   responsive   feeling   in   the   breasts  of 

95 


JOHN    REDMOND 

the  Irish  people  right  round  the  world.  If  that  be  the 
spirit  in  which  Englishmen  address  themselves  to  the 
consideration  of  this  question,  then  I  have  some  hope 
for  the  near  future  of  Ireland.  But  if  passion  and 
prejudice,  if  forgetfulness  of  the  history  of  Ireland  and 
impatience  of  her  faults  are  allowed  once  again  to  sway 
the  public  mind  and  to  influence  Parliament,  I  confess  I 
cannot  look  forward  to  the  near  future  without  the 
gravest  apprehension.  Should  calamity  follow  an  unwise 
and  hasty  rejection  of  this  Bill,  we,  at  any  rate,  will  not 
be  responsible,  for  we  will  allow  no  act  or  word  of  ours 
to  intensify  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  situation. 
We  make  our  appeal  to-day  to  the  newly  enfranchised 
democracy  of  England.  Eternal  will  be  its  recompense 
if  its  first  great  work  after  achieving  its  own  enfranchise- 
ment should  be  to  fill  up  the  gulf  of  hatred  and  distrust 
which  for  so  long  a  time  has  divided  the  two  nations, 
by  a  just  and  a  wise  concession  to  that  national  sentiment 
in  Ireland  which,  however  some  Englishmen  may  affect 
to  deride  it,  has  yet  dominated  Irish  character  for  seven 
centuries,  and  must  be  recognized  and  respected  if  Ireland 
is  ever  to  become,  as  I  fervently  pray  she  may  soon 
become,  a  peaceful,  free  and  contented  nation." 

Such,  then,  was  the  programme  of  the  man  upon  whom 
Parnell's  mantle  had  fallen.  At  times  it  seemed  as  if 
the  ghost  of  the  dead  leader  hovered  over  the  assembly, 

as    effort    after    effort   to   model    the    Bill    failed,   and   as 

96 


THE   HOME    RULE   BILL 

restriction  after  restriction  reduced  it  by  degrees  from 
its  original  greatness  of  conception.  Again  and  again 
Redmond  protested :  again  and  again  his  colleagues 
submitted  ;  but  throughout,  while  he  maintained  that  it 
was  intended  to  grow  like  every  constitution  under 
English  rule,  his  aims  were  distorted  into  a  kind  of 
suppressed  treason.  In  spite  of  the  explicit  words  in 
the  preamble,  "  without  impairing  or  restricting  the 
supremacy  a  legislature  shall  be  created,"  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain maintained  the  supremacy  was  merely  "  the  baseless 
fabric  of  a  vision."  "  Even  if  there  were  no  temporary 
provisions  in  this  Bill,  even  if  it  were  in  the  mind  and 
view  of  the  Government  a  final  settlement,  what  could 
we  say  after  the  significant  and  remarkable  speech  that 
was  made  the  other  day  by  the  honourable  member  for 
Waterford  ? "  That  speech  contained  the  following  per- 
oration, in  which  he  said  that,  though  he  would  vote  for 
it,  it  was  only  because,  like  a  toad,  it  bore  a  precious 
jewel  in  its  head. 

"  We  have  endeavoured,"  he  said,  *'  using  such 
opportunities  as  were  open  to  us,  so  to  mould  the  Bill 
that  it  would  satisfy  what  we  considered  to  be  the 
necessary  conditions  of  a  reasonable  settlement  of  the 
question.  I  regret  now,  at  the  end  of  this  discussion, 
to  think  that  every  single  effort  of  ours  in  that  direction 
failed.  Those  portions  of  the  Bill  which  we  regarded 
as    objectionable   and    dangerous   we   voted   against,   but 

97  7 


JOHN    REDMOND 

our  votes  were  overborne ;  those  portions  which  we 
considered  faulty  and  defective  we  endeavoured  to 
amend,  and  again  our  amendments  were  rejected  by 
the  Government  and  by  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
the  House.  The  changes  which  have  been  made  in  the 
Bill  are,  in  my  opinion,  changes  which,  on  the  whole, 
are  for  the  worse  and  not  for  the  better. 

"As  the  Bill  now  stands,  I  maintain  that  no  man 
in  his  senses  can  any  longer  regard  it  either  as  a 
full,  a  final,  or  a  satisfactory  settlement  of  the  Irish 
Nationalist  question.  The  word  '  provisional '  has,  so  to 
speak,  been  stamped ^  in  red  ink  across  every  page  of 
the  Bill. 

"  No  man  can  clairr^  that  such  partial  and  restricted 
powers  as  are  conferred  by  this  Bill  can  by  any  human 
ingenuity  be  invested  with  any  element  of  finality." 

It  was  on  the  misunderstanding,  therefore,  of  a  term 
which,  had  it  been  submitted  to  the  electorate,  could 
have  been  thrashed  out  till  every  possible  misconcep- 
tion had  been  eliminated,  that  the  Home  Rule  Bill 
was  wrecked.  The  onslaught  had  put  an  axe  into  the 
hands  of  every  opponent  of  the  Bill,  and  by  the  time 
it  came  back,  not  the  word  "provisional,"  but  the  word 
"  dead "  was  stamped  across  it :  and  another  generation 
had  to  pass  before   it  could  be  revived. 

It  was  in   the  nature  of  every  constitution  to  develop, 

Mr.    Redmond   had   explained,  and  if  Ireland    showed   a 

98 


THE   HOME   RULE   BILL 

capacity  for  self-government  it  was  bound  to  grow 
with  the  consent  of  England.  Even  were  he  to  have 
given  the  guarantee  required,  it  would  not  have  been 
worth  the  paper  it  was  written  on,  for  as  long  as  the 
Imperial  Parliament  remained  supreme,  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment could  never  pass  immutable  laws.  But  if  that 
guarantee  was  thought  to  be  refused  from  motives  of 
bad  faith,  or  that  they  were  actuated  by  designs  hostile 
to  the  English  Government,  he  for  his  part  disclaimed 
any  such  intention. 


99  7* 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    INDEPENDENT 
1893 — IQOO 

n^HE  failure  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  and  the  im- 
possibility of  fighting  the  House  of  Lords  on  an 
Irish  issue,  made  politicians  pause  awhile.  Two  things 
in  particular,  however,  called  for  attention.  The  one  was 
the  land  question,  the  other  that  of  the  political  prisoners, 
in  both  of  which  cases  the  active  spirits  of  the  Red- 
mondites  acted  as  a  spur  to  the  policy  of  those  who,  as 
Mr.  O'Brien  had  observed,  "  did  not  wish  to  harass  Mr. 
Gladstone  into  his  grave " — a  phrase  which  was  rather 
incriminating,  if  used  retrospectively. 

The  land  question  was  really  as  important  as  the 
Home  Rule  question,  but  perfectly  distinct ;  and  speaking 
in  New  York  the  year  before,  John  Redmond  had  pleaded 
for  an  instant  settlement  of  the  case  of  the  evicted 
tenants.  "  That  Irish  question,"  as  he  told  his  hearers, 
"which  in  one  shape  or  another  has  been  the  cause  of 
almost  every  man  and  woman  in  this  hall,  or  their 
fathers  before  them,  leaving   the  shores   of  their  country 

— that  land    question    which    has   driven  the    Irish   race 

100 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

all  over  the  world,  and  which  has  meant  starvation 
and  ruin  and  degradation  and  crime  for  our  people ! " 
That  the  matter  was  urgent  can  be  seen  from  the 
words  of  John  Dillon,  who,  some  months  later,  said  : 
"If  the  Tories  ever  get  back  to  power  before  we 
get  Home  Rule,  there  will  be  the  greatest  land 
agitation    that   has   ever   been   seen." 

The  amnesty  question  was  a  plea  for  the  release  of 
the  political  prisoners.  John  Redmond  was  not  him- 
self in  favour  of  their  methods :  he  denounced  them 
as  foolish,  because  not  calculated  to  attain  their  end, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  paid  them  the  tribute  of 
respect : 

"  He  would  never,"  he  said,  "  himself  find  fault  with 
an  Irishman,  however  extreme  his  methods,  if  he  had 
suffered  for  his  devotion  to  the  national  cause."  In- 
deed he  did  not  stop  to  consider  whether  they  were 
guilty  or  innocent,  considering  that  Gladstone  had  him- 
self admitted  that  it  was  due  to  them  that  Ireland 
owed  the  present  attention  to  her  wrongs.  Neither  a 
release  nor  a  special  inquiry  followed  ;  but  he  gained 
his  point  in  establishing  the  difference  between  a 
criminal  and  a  political  prisoner.  "  How  is  it,"  he 
said,  "  that  England  has  never  found  any  difficulty  in 
deciding  what  a  political  offender  is  when  she  is 
dealing   with    other    nations,   but    in    her    dealings    with 

Ireland      she     has     never     been     able     to     make     the 

loi 


JOHN   REDMOND 

admission  that  there  is  any  such  thing  as  a  political 
prisoner  at  all?"  It  was  an  important  point,  and  he 
cited  examples  showing  how  England  prided  herself 
on  being  the  sanctuary  of  the  world,  how  she  had 
welcomed  Garibaldi,  and  even  on  such  an  act  as  the 
Orsini  outrage  The  Times  had  written  :  "  A  conspirator 
against  a  despotic  ruler  who  himself  had  seized  the 
throne,  and  against  whom  craft  and  violence,  if  not 
justifiable,  were  at  least  not  to  be  classed  with  the 
guilt   of  common    murder." 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Redmond  him- 
self had  been  classed  as  a  criminal.  "  I  remember  when 
Mr.  Balfour  did  me  the  honour  of  sending  me  to  prison 
for  a  speech  which  he  did  not  approve  of,  he  said  I 
was  not  a  political  prisoner,  and  I  was  treated  in 
prison  exactly  the  same  as  a  pickpocket  or  an  ordinary 
criminal." 

The  pleading  was  not  without  its  effect  upon  public 
opinion,  for  when  a  deputation,  including  the  Lord  Mayor 
of  Dublin,  called  upon  Mr.  Morley,  the  Chief  Secretary, 
the  latter  said,  referring  to  the  way  the  French  had 
amnestied  the  Communards  and  the  Americans  the  Se- 
cessionists :  "  Are  the  only  people  in  the  world  for  whom 
there  is  to  be  no  amnesty,  no  act  of  oblivion,  to  be 
Irishmen  whose  only  fault  has  been  that  they  have  used 
their  talents  for  the  benefit  of  their  countrymen,  and  done 
the  best  they  could  to  raise  up  the  miserable,  oppressed 

103 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

and  down-trodden  people  of  their  own  country?  I 
assure  you,  at  least  one  great  party  is  anxious  for  an 
amnesty  and  an  act  of  oblivion  on  your  part  and  on 
ours." 

Meanwhile  things  were  progressing  in  England,  and 
the  sudden  announcement  of  Gladstone's  resignation  still 
further  divided  the  two  Irish  parties.  The  Freeman  tried 
hard  to  convince  its  readers  that  the  change  in  the 
Liberal  party  was  merely  one  of  persons,  not  of  policy, 
and  that  Lord  Rosebery  was  merely  Gladstone's 
nominee.  Not  so  the  Parnellite  organ,  which  bitterly 
complained  that  this  change  meant  the  indefinite  hang- 
ing-up  of  the  Home  Rule  programme,  and  the  Red- 
mondites  issued  the  following  manifesto  : 

"  As  if  in  mockery  of  the  hopes  that  were  excited 
in  Ireland,  the  Prime  Minister,  whose  continuance  in 
office  was  the  pledge  of  Home  Rule,  is  cast  aside,  and 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Lords  appointed  in  his 
stead.  In  Lord  Rosebery  and  his  present  Cabinet  we 
can  have  no  confidence,  and  we  warn  our  fellow  country- 
men to  have  none :  they  will  concede  just  as  much  to 
Ireland  as  she  extorts  by  organization  among  her 
people  and  absolute  unfettered  independence  of  English 
parties  in  her  representatives  .  ,  .  and  we  call  upon 
you  no  longer  to  tolerate  a  policy  of  national  sub- 
serviency   to    English    party    interests,    but   to   carry   on, 

if  necessary,  the  bitter  struggle  with  both  English  parties 

103 


JOHN   REDMOND 

rather  than  continue  to  be  the  scorn  of  one  and  the 
deluded    dupe   of   the   other." 

On  April  8,  John  Redmond  at  a  meeting  in  Dublin 
declared  his  policy.  "  The  Irish  party  was,"  he  said, 
"  face  to  face  with  the  ruin  of  the  Home  Rule  cause  and 
was  in  a  position  of  disunion,  squalid  and  humiliating 
personal  altercations,  and  petty  vanities.  So  that  any 
measure  of  national  autonomy  must  be  hung  up  till 
the    English   cared    to   give   it." 

The  manifesto  was  strong  as  a  prophecy :  it  is  mild 
as  a  retrospect ;  for  time  has  confirmed  the  Parnellite 
leader's  intuition.  Two  years  before,  speaking  at 
Dublin  on  St.  Patrick's  Day,  he  had  warned  the 
country  against  a  policy  of  trust  with  Ireland's  leader 
gone,  and  not  a  single  man  left  with  his  qualities.  It 
was  bad  enough  to  have  misunderstanding  without  pro- 
crastination :  now  they  were  to  have  both,  for,  as  Sir 
William  Harcourt  had  said :  "  While  the  Liberal  party 
were  still  in  favour  of  Home  Rule,  neither  they  nor  he 
believed  the  people  of  England  would  ever  grant  Mr. 
Parnell's  Fenian  Home  Rule."  The  Roseberyites  did  not 
even  wish  to  give  Gladstone's ;  at  least  until  the  English 
electorate  had  been  converted.  The  Redmondite  policy 
was  that  the  wounds  of  the  country  should  be  healed 
then  and  there ;  that  delay  could  only  mean  a  slow 
bleeding  to  death  ;    that   the  remedy  had  been  admitted 

by    experts,    and    that    the    courageous    policy    which   a 

104 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

physician  would  adopt  in  such  circumstances  would  be 
to  save  his  patient,  as  he  alone  knew  how,  without 
first  careering  round  the  country  trying  to  interest  or 
convince  every  passer-by. 

All  the  while  parties  in  Ireland  were  still  squab- 
bling :  some  exclaiming  against  the  "  Bosses "  of  the 
more  numerous  party :  Mr.  Healy  protesting  against 
"  Machined  conventions  "  and  declaring  that  they  "  could 
no  more  have  a  treaty  with  the  Parnellites  than  with 
the  Orangemen,"  while  Mr.  Davitt  was  trying  to  get 
rid  of  Mr.  Healy,  whom  he  accused  of  ambition  by 
saying  that  worse  things  could  happen  to  the  national 
cause  than  .ne  return  of  such  a  political  prodigal  son 
to  the  fold  of  factionism,  meaning,  of  course,  the  Red- 
mondites. 

Above  the  din  of  such  heartrending  vituperation,  and 
as  if  to  remind  all  of  the  great  days  when  the  chief  led 
his  serried  ranks  to  battle,  came  John  Redmond's  sum- 
mons to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  Parnell's  death. 
Some  thirty  thousand,  all  wearing  the  ivy  leaf,  a  fitting 
emblem  of  the  cause,  visited  the  tomb  at  Glasnevin,  but 
no  one  tried  to  estimate  the  crowds  in  Dublin.  What 
was  chiefly  remarkable,  however,  was  the  change  in  the 
attitude  of  the  clergy,  whose  anger  had  abated,  and 
who,  it  was  generally  thought,  would  in  the  next  elec- 
tion be  absolutely  neutral  as  between  the  two  sections 
of  the  Nationalists. 

105 


JOHN  REDMOND 

There  were  no  speeches  by  the  graveside  or  on  the 
day  ;  but  the  scene  of  this  pilgrimage  of  reparation 
spoke  for  itself.  The  chief  was  at  last  avenged,  and  as 
John  Redmond  and  the  little  Parnellite  group  wended 
their  way  through  the  crowded  streets  they  must  have 
gone  back  many  times  in  thought  to  that  Committee 
Room  where  the  first  blow  had  been  struck  that  felled 
the  leader  and  the  cause  as  with  one  blow. 

Perhaps  the  words  of  his  own  speech  may  have  been 
ringing  in  their  minds :  "  Let  no  man  in  the  room  foolishly 
believe  that  if  this  debate  is  carried  to  a  close,"  he  had 
said,  "  the  matter  is  going  to  end  here.  My  belief  is  that 
in  the  moment  when  by  an  adverse  vote  of  this  party 
you  succeed  in  driving  Mr.  Parnell  from  the  chair,  and 
attempt  to  drive  him  out  of  public  life  and  trample  him 
underfoot,  that  very  moment  the  Irish  race  throughout 
the  world  will  be  rent  in  twain,  and  division  will  be 
created. 

"  I  assert  my  belief  that  the  dethronement  of  Mr. 
Parnell  will  be  the  signal  for  the  kindling  of  the 
fires  of  dissension  in  every  land  where  a  man  of  the 
Irish  race  has  found  a  home.  It  is  because  I  look 
forward  with  dread  and  horror  to  that  future,  that  I 
have  taken  my  stand  so  firmly  by  your  side,  Mr. 
Parnell.  I  believe  that  the  one  hope  of  safety  for  Ire- 
land   and    the    Home    Rule    cause    is    that    you    should 

remain  at  your   post   or   else  abdicate  your  post,  having 

io6 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

obtained   for    Ireland  security  for  the  settlement    of   the 
question." 

The  Dublin  correspondent  of  The  IHmes,  indeed,  seemed 
to  endorse  the  prophecy.     "  The  demonstration  seemed  to 
be  marked  with  a  tone  of  despair,"    he  wrote,  describing 
the  proceedings  in  Dublin;    "it  was  the  tribute  of  bitter 
sorrow  for  the   loss   of  the   only   chief    who    could    have 
made    Home    Rule   successful   and    who   now   lay   buried 
in  his  tomb.     There    was    no    reason    to   doubt   the   sin- 
cerity  and   significance    of  the    monster    pilgrimage,    but 
who  can  be  so  sanguine  as  to  suppose  that  it  can  have 
any  more  practical  use  in  reviving  Home  Rule  than  the 
wailing  of  the   Jews    in    the    restoration    of  Jerusalem  ? " 
In  this  he  was  wrong,  for  when,  next  day,  the  Parnellite 
leader,  while    he    mourned     that    Home  Rule   had  abso- 
lutely disappeared  from  the  list  of  urgent  Imperial  politi- 
cal   questions,    pointed    to  the   hopeless   state   of  divided 
Ireland,   and    said    that   they   had   no   man   as   leader   fit 
to    combine    the    various    elements    of    their    race,     "a 
voice "    in    the    audience   exclaimed    "  Yourself,"    and    for 
a    moment     there     was     an     interruption     of    prolonged 
cheers. 

But  this  was  not  to  be  for  years,  not  till  the  party 
had  lost  all  power  to  influence  English  thought,  and 
till  a  noble  self-sacrifice  upon  the  part  of  every  single 
member,  and    mostly  upon  the  part  of  John  Dillon,  laid 

open    the   way   for   a   general   return   to   a   united    party 

107 


JOHN   REDMOND 

and    policy    which    more    than    atoned    for    the    bitter 
dissensions  of  the  past. 

But  the  revival  of  Parnellism  was  not  merely  a 
sentimental  renaissance  of  the  national  idea  which  had 
been  sadly  impaired  by  the  fight  between  the  church- 
men and  parliamentarians.  Parnell  had  met  his  death 
not  so  much  by  Brutus'  dagger  as  by  a  bishop's 
crozier.  Redmond,  as  his  successor,  became,  as  it  was 
said,  the  "  anti-clerical  par  exxellencer  The  term  is 
misleading  and  its  elucidation  all-important. 

It  was  thought  that  at  bottom  the  bishops  had 
been  influenced,  perhaps  unconsciously,  by  the  Unionists 
in  prolonging,  if  not  in  starting,  the  antagonism  to 
Parnell  and  Parnellite  ideas.  The  idea  was  not  entirely 
without  foundation.  As  early  as  October  14th,  1885, 
Lord  Randolph  Churchill  had  proposed  to  rule 
Ireland  by  the  bishops,  and  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Salis- 
bury had  said,  "It  is  the  bishops  entirely  to  whom  I 
look  in  future  to  mitigate  or  postpone  the  Home  Rule 
onslaught.  Let  us  only  be  able  to  occupy  a  year  with 
the  education  question.  By  that  time,  I  am  certain, 
Parnell's  party  will  have  become  more  seriously  dis- 
integrated. Personal  jealousies,  Government  influences, 
Davitt  and  Fenian  intrigues  will  be  at  work  on  the 
devoted  band  of  eighty.  The  bishops,  who  in  their 
hearts   hate    Parnell   and    don't   care   a   scrap   for    Home 

Rule,   having  safely   acquired  control   of  Irish  education, 

108 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

will,  according  to  my  calculation,  complete  the  rout. 
This  is  my  policy,  and  I  know  it  is  good  and 
sound  and  the  only  Tory  policy."  About  forty  years 
previous  to  this,  in  1844,  Charles  Greville  had  ventured 
to  suggest  the  same  policy,  to  separate  the  priests 
from  O'Connell,  and  thus  deprive  him  of  half  his 
power,  by  getting  them  under  the  influence  of  the 
Government. 

But,  throughout,  there  had  been  a  steady  opposition  to 
this  policy  both  in  England  and  Ireland.  "  If  we  want 
to  hold  Ireland  by  force  let  us  do  it  ourselves  :  let 
us  not  call  in  the  Pope,  whom  we  are  always  attacking, 
to  help  us,"  had  said  the  Radical  member  for  New- 
castle, while  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Errington's  secret 
mission  to  Rome  was  furthur  evidence  of  the 
unpopularity  of  the  attempt.  In  1888  a  meeting  at 
which  some  forty  Catholic  members  of  Parliament  were 
present  had  passed  the  famous  resolution  that  "  Irish 
Catholics  can  recognize  no  right  in  the  Holy  See  to 
interfere  with  the  Irish  people  in  the  management  of 
their  own  political  affairs " — another  lay  protest  which 
rather  resembled  in  tone  that  of  Sir  Wilfred  Laurier, 
when  he  fought  so  successfully  for  the  exclusion  of  the 
Canadian  hierarchy  from  politics.  In  Ireland  the  battle 
begun  over  Parnell  was  continued  long  after  his  death, 
and    the   whole   fury   was   centred    for   a   time    on   John 

Redmond    and    his    little    band,    which    in    one   General 

109 


JOHN   REDMOND 

election  was  reduced  from  29  to  9 ;  and  a  good 
specimen  of  the  style  of  thing  a  Catholic  Parnellite  had 
to  face,  taken  from  Bishop  Nulty's  pastoral,  may  be 
given  to  show  the  success  of  the  Tory  policy. 

"  Parnellism  saps  at  the  very  root  and  strikes  at  the 
very  foundation  of  Catholic  faith, "  it  ran.  "  Parnellism, 
like  many  great  rebellious  movements  which  heresy  has 
from  time  to  time  raised  against  the  Church,  springs 
from  the  root  of  sensualism  and  sin.  No  man  can 
remain  a  Catholic  as  long  as  he  elects  to  cling  to  Par- 
nellism. The  dying  Parnellite  himself  will  hardly  dare 
to  face  the  justice  of  his  Maker  till  he  has  been  pre- 
pared and  anointed  by  us  for  the  last  awful  struggle 
and  the  terrible  judgment  that  will  immediately  follow 
it.  I  earnestly  implore  you,  then,  dearly  beloved,  to 
stamp  out  by  your  votes  at  the  coming  election  the  great 
moral,  social,  religious  evil  which  has  brought  about  so 
much  disunion  and  bad  blood  amongst  a  hitherto  united 
people."  Indeed,  Parnellites  were  often  excluded  from 
Mass  and  the  sacraments,  and  it  is  a  wonder,  as  some- 
one had  said,  the  whole  following  of  Parnell  did  not 
belch  forth  a  Catholicism  presented  in  such  a  distorted 
and  loathsome  form. 

The  controversy  was    a   heated   one  as  the   Parnellites 

and    McCarthyites     defined     their    positions ;    but    John 

Redmond,  the    leader,    was    throughout    more    unclerical 

than  anti-clerical.     "  Parnell's    leadership     is    a     political 

no 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

question,  we  admit,"  would  say  the  bishops  ;  "  but  in  this 
case  we  forbid  you  to  have  him  on  moral  groundsi." 
"  We  fail  to  see  the  moral  relevance  of  a  political  leader- 
ship," would  reply  the  other  party  ;  "  but,  in  any  case, 
we  only  have  him  on  the  grounds  of  political  necessity." 
"  We,  as  pastors  of  the  Catholic  nation,  have  a  right 
to  direct  politics,"  exclaimed  the  bishops.  "We,  as 
Nationalists,  recognize  no  religious  interference  in 
politics,"  replied  the  others.  In  fact,  Mr.  Parnell  was 
to  the  Irish  Catholic  bishops  what  Mr.  Bradlaugh  was 
to  the  Protestant  Anglican  members  of  Parliament. 
The  only  difference  was,  that  one  had  committed  a 
dogmatic  and  the  other  a  moral  crime ;  but  in  both 
cases  John  Redmond  could  only  see  a  confusion  of 
ideas  in  thus  trying  to  deduce  a  political  incapacity 
from  a  moral  fault  and  in  not  making  a  distinction 
which  has  been  made  times  out  of  number  by  the 
Popes  in  their  dealings  with  the  sovereigns  of  the 
world. 

Such  denunciations  of  a  political  cause  purely  from 
the  personal  delinquency  of  a  leader  could  only  have 
been  tolerated  in  the  Middle  Ages,  it  had  been  thought. 
It  would  have  excited  much  merriment  as  a  joke  had  the 
gay  courtiers  of  Louis  XIV.  awakened  one  morning  to 
find  that  the  whole  Bourbon  dynasty  had  been  declared 
incapable   of  sitting   on   the   throne   of    France   by    the 

Pope,  owing  to    some  Versailles  scandal.     All   England 

III 


JOHN   REDMOND 

would  certainly  have  torn  the  man  to  pieces  who  would 
have  ventured  to  propose  the  recall  of  Nelson  on  the 
eve  of  Trafalgar  on  the  plea  that  the  national  honour 
required  it,  because  a  letter  of  intrigue  with  Lady 
Hamilton  had  been  found  dropped  by  him  at  a  Ports- 
mouth tavern.  In  Ireland  it  left  men  dumb  with  sur- 
prise ;  but  throughout  England  it  was  greeted  with  a 
shout  of  Unionist  triumph,  for  it  proved  that  English- 
men could  now  rule  by  the  bishops,  as  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill  had  always  maintained.  Mr.  Justice  O'Brien, 
in  a  judgment  in  an  election  petition,  declared  the  Church 
to  be  then  nothing  more  than  a  vast  political  agency ; 
while  the  organ  of  the  Redmondites  remarked  that 
"  they  were  influenced  by  the  conviction  that  such 
action  as  the  bishop  and  clergy  are  now  judicially 
declared  to  have  pursued  in  South  Meath  constituted  an 
imminent  and  deadly  peril  to  the  cause  of  Home  Rule." 
This  was  in  the  year  of  Parnell's  death ;  the  next 
year  proved  it ;  but  in  the  meanwhile  the  controversy 
raged  on. 

It  was  in  vain  that  it  was  pointed  out  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  had  welcomed  Mr.  Morley, 
the  politician,  to  Ireland,  much  as  he  deplored  the 
infidel.  In  was  in  vain  Boulanger  was  pointed  out  as 
an  example  of  Catholics  making  a  legitimate  political 
use  of  a    man  of  dubious  private  life.     It  was  answered 

that  any   stick   was   good   enough   to   beat   a   ministerial 

112 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

dog  with.  Even  the  Weekly  Register,  which  had  never 
cared  for  Parnell — the  heretic  whom  three  of  their  lord- 
ships had  always  thought  unfit  to  be  a  leader — declared, 
"  We  know  of  no  law  which  forbids  men  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  political  services  of  persons  of  evil  conduct 
or  heretical  belief,"  and  maintained,  "We  should  as  little 
suspect  a  Catholic  voter  of  breaking  the  sixth  command- 
ment because  he  supports  Mr.  Parnell  as  we  should 
attribute  to  a  Catholic  voter  for  Mr.  Morley  a  worship  of 
Mirabeau."  Michael  Davitt's  protest,  not  concerned  with 
the  ethical  so  much  as  the  political  aspect,  struck  the 
keynote  of  the  situation  when  he  said  :  "  I  contend  that 
the  humblest  voter  in  our  land  has  the  right,  as  against 
the  entire  hierarchy  and  priesthood  of  Ireland,  and  the 
whole  Church,  to  the  formation  of  his  own  political  views 
and  the  free  exercise  of  the  franchise  which  the  law 
confers  upon  him." 

But  quite  apart  from  these  speculations,  John  Redmond 
maintained,  from  quite  a  different  point  of  view,  that  this 
clerical  interference  was  killing  Home  Rule  in  English 
public  opinion.  In  this  he  spoke  as  a  statesman,  for  he 
saw  its  effect  would  be  disastrous  upon  the  great  masses 
of  the  English  electorate.  Nor  was  he  wrong,  to  judge 
from  a  speech  made  by  Lord  Salisbury.  "  Can  you 
imagine,"  he  said  {^Weekly  Register,  Report,  1892),  "the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  summoning  his  parishioners 
and    resolving    that    there    should    be    a    change    in    the 

113  8 


JOHN   REDMOND 

leadership  of  the  Conservative  party."  The  suggestion 
was  greeted  with  laughter,  but  it  was  a  serious  matter, 
as  he  went  on  to  observe  because  it  brought  home  this 
to  the  English  electorate,  that  they  were  being  asked  to 
place  Ireland  under  a  hybrid  secular-ecclesiastical  power, 
and  in  so  placing  Ireland,  place  their  Protestant  fellow- 
countrymen,  who  undoubtedly  would  receive  no  considera- 
tion from  this  novel  and  monstrous  authority.  It  was  in 
vain  that,  when  the  Parnellite  leader  returned  to  Parlia- 
ment with  his  followers,  elected  by  70,000  voters,  he  tried 
to  reassure  the  opponents  of  Home  Rule  against  the 
Rome  Rule  scare ;  the  fact  of  his  own  diminished  ranks 
spoke  against  his  contention. 

Throughout,  it  was  the  Unionist  policy  to  keep  down 
Parnellism  through  the  priests  if  possible,  while  even 
among  Catholics,  a  large  Unionist  protest  signed  by  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  and  most  of  the  leading  Catholic 
peers  against  Home  Rule  was  based  entirely  upon  the 
fear  that  a  Home  Rule  Parliament  might  limit  the 
clerical  power.  "  We  believe,"  it  concluded,  "  that  under 
these  circumstances  a  section  of  the  Irish  people  would 
be  brought  into  conflict  with  the  Church,  and  we  cannot 
look  forward  to  such  a  struggle  without  the  gravest 
apprehension ;  and  for  this,  among  other  reasons,  we  as 
British  Catholics,  are  opposed  to  the  policy  of  Home 
Rule."     It  was  probably  such  considerations  that  dictated 

the  thorough   policy  of  the   Redmondites   by  which   the 

114     . 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

country  should  become  truly  national — viz.,  that  nothing 
short  of  an  independent  parliament  could  put  an  end  to 
such  an  abuse,  and  that  the  national  idea  of  unity  alone 
could  put  a  stop  to  sectarian  dissensions. 

In  spite  of  the  controversy  that    raged,  weakening  the 
party  almost  to  death,  there   were  not  wanting,  however, 
signs    of  vigour.     In    fact,    the    very    bitterness    of    the 
struggle    towards    reunion    was   in    itself   a   testimony    to 
the    Parnellite   policy    and    the    Anti-Parnellite    sincerity. 
Another  sign  of  health  was  the  formation   of  the  Recess 
Committee — the     beginnings    of  the    agricultural    move- 
ment   under   Sir    Horace    Plunket,    in    which    effort    he 
was   very   sympathetically   met   by   John    Redmond  until 
an    anti-Home    Rule    policy    was     supposed    to   be    dis- 
covered  in    it.     But  year  in  and  year   out  the  fight  for 
unity   went   on,    Mr.   McCarthy  saying   that   unless   they 
reunited   they   must   give    up  Home   Rule  for  a  genera- 
tion,  while    Dr.    Kenny   still   kept   up   the    original    con- 
troversy  that  the  Irish   bishops  had  accepted   the  dicta- 
tion   of  the    English   conscience.     This  was  somewhat   a 
propos,    as    it   was   Unionist   policy   to   try  to   secure  the 
political     allegiance    of    the    hierarchy    by    giving    them 
doles   of    educational    concessions.     Thus    a    union    with 
the     Unionist    Government    eventually    left    them     with 
nothing   but   promises.     Redmond's   policy,   on  the    con- 
trary,  was   all    for  an   absolute   independence    of  British 
parties   in    Parliament    and    by    persistent    opposition    to 

115  8* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

extort     the     Catholic     University    Bill     they     so    much 
desired. 

In  1896  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy  resigned  the   Chairman- 
ship of  the  Anti-Parnellite  section  of  the  Irish  Party.     It 
was  expected    the  leadership  would  fall  on    Sexton,  but, 
instead,  he  retired  from    Parliament  to   become  manager 
of   the  Freeman,  where  he  has  since  acted  as  the  brain 
of  the  party.     The  election  of  Dillon  by    38    against  21 
showed  that  the  wounds  were  still  open.     One  important 
attempt   at  reunion    was    made  by  the  convention  of  the 
Irish    race   from    all    parts    of    the    world,    which  met   in 
Dublin,  but    it  was    for  the  most  part  dominated  by  the 
Bishop  of  Raphoe's  speech  on  Financial  Relations,  while 
the   only  resolution   which    might   have   led   the   way    to 
unity,    Father    Flynn's,     proposing     to    build    a    golden 
bridge  to  admit  the    Parnellites   and    Mr.    T.    M.    Healy, 
who  was  now  also  ostracized  by  the  Anti-Parnellites,  was 
scouted    as   a  delay — and    delay,    said  the  meeting,  spelt 
damnation. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  third  day,  a  resolution  to 
adopt  an  active  policy  and  abandon  all  alliances  with 
English  parties  was  in  itself  a  tribute  to  the  policy  of 
the  Redmondites,  whose  first  principle  it  thus  accepted. 
It  was  not  without  cause,  therefore,  that  the  ParnelHte 
leader  resented  the  withdrawal  of  the  olive  branch 
offered  to  them.  As  to  Mr.  Healy's  party  excommuni- 
cation, it  reminded  him  of  the  "  Ingoldsby    Legends,"  he 

116 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

said,  the  "political  Jackdaw  of  Rheims "  having  with 
bell,  book  and  candle  been  subjected  to  every  curse, 
but  his  feathers  seeming  never  one  whit  the  worse. 

The  next  year,  1897,  he  proposed  his  own  plan — that 
if  disunited  as  parties,  they  could  at  least  be  one  in 
policy.  For  this  he  proposed  at  the  Mansion  House, 
towards  the  beginning  of  the  year,  the  foundation  of  an 
Association  of  Independent  Nationalists,  with  the  follow- 
ing aims:  (i)  National  self-government;  (2)  Full  civil 
and  religious  liberty ;  (3)  Independence  of  all  English 
parties ;  (4)  Manhood  suffrage  ;  (5)  Redress  of  Irish  finan- 
cial grievances ;  (6)  Amnesty  ;  (7)  Land  law  reform  and 
the  development  of  Irish  resources.  It  is  true  that,  even 
if  united,  the  party  would  not  have  been  sufficiently 
numerous  to  turn  the  scale  in  Parliament,  but  public 
opinion,  at  least,  would  not  be  so  demoralized.  But 
even  this  was  not  taken  up  with  avidity,  and  towards 
the  end  of  the  year  we  find  him  expressing  the  fear 
that  1898 — the  centenary  year  of  the  great  Irish  re- 
bellion against  British  rule — would  dawn  over  a  weak, 
divided  and  demoralized  people. 

Two  great  events,  however,  characterized  these  years. 
The  first  was  the  Local  Government  Act :  the  second 
was  the  report  of  the  Financial  Relations  Commission. 

The  supposed  business  incapacity  of  Irishmen  had  been 

one  of  the  factors  in  the  defeat  of   the    Home  Rule  Bill 

of    1886,   and    Lord     Salisbury   had    looked    upon    Local 

117 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Government  as  worse  than  Home  Rule.  It  was  tried  as 
an  experiment  and  proved  a  tremendous  success — as  John 
Redmond  said  years  later.  "  It  was  not  a  half  measure. 
It  conferred  full  and  complete  control  on  Irishmen — as 
fully  and  as  completely  as  was  conferred  on  the  Eng- 
lish people.  It  worked  a  social  revolution :  it  com- 
pletely disestablished  the  old  ascendancy  class  from  its 
position  of  power  and  made  the  mass  of  the  Irish 
people  masters  of  all  the  finance  and  all  the  local 
affairs  of  Ireland,"  and  in  principle  was  the  greatest 
tribute  to  the  feasibility  of  that  full  measure  of 
National  self-government  which  has  ever  been  ad- 
vocated by  John  Redmond  as  the  only  possible  solu- 
tion of  the  Irish  question. 

The  second  great  event  was  the  report  of  the  Finan- 
cial Relations  Commission,  signed  by  John  Redmond, 
among  others,  which  established  beyond  dispute  the 
fact  that  Ireland  had  been  regularly  taxed  over 
;^2,50o,ooo  a  year  beyond  her  share.  This  had  always 
been  his  own  contention,  and  he  formed  one  of  the 
leading  men  in  favour  of  an  All  Ireland  movement  in 
favour  of  remedying  the  grievance.  An  Irish  Financial 
Reform  League  was  started,  but  with  no  great  success, 
for  in  the  discussion  of  every  Budget  for  ten  years  in 
the  House  of  Commons  Mr.  Redmond  has  had  to  repeat 
the  same  protest. 

After    1898    the   Government,   embarrassed   by   a    con- 

118 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

tiniious  and  persistent  Opposition,  began  to  go  back  to 
that  state  of  academic  sympathy  with  the  Irish  demand 
of  the  days  of  Isaac  Butt,  from  which  Parnell  had  raised 
it.  Mr.  Balfour  had  declared  a  short  time  before  that  it 
filled  him  with  dismay  that  Parliament  should  tamely 
acquiesce  in  a  state  of  things  which  practically  deprived 
two-thirds  of  the  population  of  Ireland  of  higher  edu- 
cational facilities.  It  became  evident  that  no  initiative 
would  be  taken,  and  as  there  was  no  strong  party  to 
compel  it,  this  fact  became  one  of  the  most  potent 
causes  which  accelerated  the  movement  towards  unity  in 
Ireland. 

"The  announcement  by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire," 
wrote  the  Guardian  shortly  after  that  event,  "  that  no 
bill  dealing  with  the  Irish  University  question  is  to  be 
expected  from  the  present  Cabinet,  will  give  sincere 
pleasure  to  the  Opposition.  This  is  a  statement  which 
cuts  from  under  the  feet  of  Unionists  their  strongest 
argument  against  Home  Rule,  and  it  exhibits  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  unenviable  light  of  yielding  to  the  most 
illiberal  and  prejudiced  sections  of  their  own  supporters. 
What  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  has  now  done,  is  to 
make  many  Unionists  feel  that  the  refusal  to  give  Irish 
Roman  Catholics  a  University,  falsifies  their  main  con- 
tention since  1886.  We  do  Ireland  no  wrong,  they  have 
said,   by   denying   her   a  Parliament  of  her  own,  because 

all  that  a  Parliament  of  her  own  could  justly  do  for  her, 

119 


JOHNjiREDMOND 

can  and  will  be  done  for  her  by  the  Imperial  Parliament. 
If  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  reading  of  Ministerial 
intentions  proves  true,  Unionists  can  say  this  no 
longer." 

As  the  grievance  was  acknowledged  and  not  redressed, 
it   was   evident   that   nothing   but   the   old    battering-ram 
policy   would    avail,   and   here   came    Redmond's    chance. 
Not  only  had  the  party  to  be  reunited,  but  a  leader  had 
to   be  found  who  could  harmonize  all  the  discordant  fac- 
tions.    The   situation   called    for   a   man ;    accordingly    a 
man   had   to   be  found.     An  Irish  Unity  Conference  met 
in  Dublin  in  April,  1899.     Again  John  Redmond  proposed 
a   previous   interchange   of  opinion   as   to   the   nature   of 
the  new  unity.    By  some  misunderstandings  and  delay  of 
letters   he   could    not   avail    himself  of   the   invitation    to 
the  Conference.     Accordingly  one  of  the  most  important 
elements,    namely,    the   representation    of  all    parties,  was 
wanting   in  the  Conference,  and  though  some  papers  de- 
scribed it  as  having  arrived  at  its  decisions  with  remarkable 
celerity,  the  Press  on  the  whole  was  pessimistic.      "  It    is 
doubtful    whether    the    proposals    for    a    reunion    of    the 
Nationalist  faction  in  Ireland  were  ever  seriously  meant," 
wrote  The  Times.     "  At    any   rate,  the  conference    which 
was  held   yesterday  resulted    in   a   complete  and    ignomi- 
nious fiasco.     There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  reunion 
in  any  true  sense  of  the  word  was  even  conceivable,  and 

in  any  case,  the  conduct  of  the  negotiations  by  the  majority 

120 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

made    it    evident    that    the    offer    to    put    aside    personal 
quarrels  was  a  sham." 

The  passage  is  at  least  a  valuable  document  of  testi- 
mony to  the  difficulties  the  Irish  members  had  to  face 
and  likewise  to  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  persever- 
ance which  characterized  the  leaders.  There  were,  how- 
ever, other  forces  at  work  in  the  direction  of  consolida- 
tion, among  which  may  be  numbered  the  proposed  re- 
distribution of  Parliamentary  seats,  which,  according  to 
the  Unionist  scheme,  would  have  reduced  the  Irish 
party  from  103  to  74.  Another  factor  which  The  Times 
had  not  reckoned  with  was  the  deep  spirit  of  patriotism 
which  in  all  their  differences  had  actuated  Irish  leaders. 
This  was  seen  in  the  noble  self-sacrifice  by  which  John 
Dillon  resigned  the  leadership :  for  in  moving  th<e  ad- 
journment of  the  election  of  the  Chairman  in  the  first 
week  of  February,  1899,  he  said: 

"  I  move  this  resolution  with  a  desire  to  clear  the 
ground  as  far  as  may  be  for  the  work  of  reuniting  the 
Irish  Nationalist  representatives,  and  in  order  to  bring 
the  party  into  line  with  what  is  undoubtedly  the  over- 
whelming sentiment  of  Ireland — the  wish  to  see  the  Irish 
Nationalist  representatives  in  the  House  of  Commons 
reunited  into  one  party  on  the  lines  of  the  Parnellite 
party,  as  it  existed  from  1885  to  1890.  I  wish  to  state, 
therefore,  that  I  shall    not  be  a  candidate  nor  allow    my 

name  to  be  proposed  for  any  office,  in  this  or  any  other 

121 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Irish  party,  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  Parlia- 
ment, and  I  trust  that  it  will  be  felt  that  by  adopting 
this  course  I  am  doing  all  in  my  power  to  promote 
that  union  of  the  Nationalist  forces  upon  which  Ireland 
has  set  her  heart." 

The  words  were  in  every  way  worthy  of  the  situation 
and  of  the  man,  but  their  effect  was  not  instantaneous. 
The  Rev.  John  FitzPatrick,  a  priest  resident  in  Nice, 
seeing  an  impending  deadlock,  wrote  as  a  friend  of  Sir 
Charles  Gavan  Duffy  that  the  three  leaders  of  separate 
wings,  Dillon,  Redmond  and  Healy,  should  employ  that 
veteran  Irishman  as  arbitrator  of  their  differences. 
John  Redmond  accepted,  but  suggested  a  preliminary 
conference  of  the  representatives  of  each  party  to  discuss 
the  basis  of  union.  J.  Dillon,  who  had  done  all  in  his 
power  to  bring  about  unity,  was  somewhat  annoyed,  ex- 
pressing the  disgust  of  the  people  of  Ireland  at  the  delay 
rather  vehemently.  A  suggestion  that  Redmond  should 
become  leader  for  1901  and  Dillon  for  1902,  lest  either 
should  be  allowed  to  exercise  too  much  influence  upon 
their  fellows,  survives  as  a  political  curiosity.  Mr.  Blake 
wrote  to  William  O'Brien  to  allow  the  people  of  Ireland, 
through  the  United  Irish  League,  to  settle  the  squabble 
of  the  members  ;  while  Michael  Davitt,  in  despair  of  ulti- 
mate success,  feared  that  reunion  would  only  mean  that 
the  whims    of  the  leaders    would    prevail    instead    of  the 

wishes  of  the  people.     The  publication  of  correspondence 

122 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

in  self-defence  by  Mr.  Dillon  and  Mn  Redmond,  however, 
revealed  the  wisdom  of  a  policy  of  a  previous  conference, 
Mr.  Healy  saying  that  he  would  certainly  join  in  any 
request  to  convene  his  own  party,  and  that  John 
Redmond's  suggestion  had  a  practical  ring  about  it. 

Towards  the  autumn  a  not  insignificant  event  in  John 
Redmond's  favour  was  a  public  invitation  on  the  part 
of  the  New  York  Irish  authorities  to  himself  and  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin  to  visit  the  American  capital, 
thus  selecting,  as  it  were,  the  chief  of  the  civic  and  the 
parliamentary  representatives  of  Nationalist  Ireland. 

About  the  same  time  the  further  publication  of  corre- 
spondence between  John  Redmond  and  Healy  seemed  for 
the  moment  to  throw  the  odium  of  failure  of  negotiations 
upon  John  Dillon's  shoulders  and  make  Mr.  Healy 
appear  one  of  the  most  ardent  for  conciliation,  and 
on  the  whole  to  prove  the  absolute  necessity  of  the 
preliminary  conference  John  Redmond  had  always 
suggested. 

"  In  case  your  advances  are  again  repulsed,"  wrote  Mr. 

Healy  in  one  letter  to  Mr.  Redmond,  "  you  may  at  least 

find  consolation  in  the   knowledge  that  the    Irish   people 

who  are  now  said  to  have  undertaken  for  themselves  the 

task  of  restoring  unity,  will  then  be  better  able  to  judge 

of  the  sincerity  of  some  of  their  adjutants.     For  my  own 

part,  such  a  rebuff  would  make  me   willing,  if  necessary 

to  join   with    any  of  the  rank   and    file  in    a   call    for   a 

123 


JOHN   REDMOND 

convention  of  the  Irish   people  to   consider  the   situation 
and  provide  for  the  future." 

Mr.  Redmond  accepted  the  suggestion  to  lay  the  case 
once  more  before  the  promoters  of  the  conference, 
though  he  admitted  that  all  this  action  on  his  part 
might  open  the  door  to  future  misconception.  Hence, 
Messrs.  P.  J.  Power,  M.P.,  Jeremiah  Jordan,  M.P., 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Healy,  the  Conference  Secretaries, 
were  requested  to  bring  about  the  original  suggestion 
of  John  Redmond,  for  a  preliminary  deliberative  confer- 
ence to  discuss  the  terms  of  union,  suggesting  as  an 
ostensible  reason  for  this  change  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Healy,  who  had  formerly  refused,  was  now  willing  to 
take  part  in  the  conference.  The  result  was  a  general 
agreement  to  call  once  more  the  representatives  of  the 
different  sections. 

Mr.  T.  C.  Harrington,  the  chairman  of  the  con- 
ference, made  it  his  special  duty  to  harmonize  in  every 
possible  way  the  conflicting  factions,  so  that  it  was 
in  no  small  degree  owing  to  his  personal  action  that 
a  deadlock  was  avoided  and  the  path  to  future 
union  smoothed ;  while  the  Freeman,  which  had  been 
hitherto  rather  hostile  to  John  Redmond,  admitted  that 
it  was  a  pity  that  the  party  had  not  been  allowed  an 
earlier  opportunity  of  considering  the  suggestion  of  John 
Redmond  and  his  friends.  Still  the  work  was  not  ac- 
complished   at    once,  although  the  conference    had    done 

124 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

much  to  pave  the  way,  and  the  Freeman,  not  too  san- 
guine about  the  situation,  was  incHncd  to  think  that 
all  such  conferences  tended  rather  to  accentuate  than 
diminish  the  points  of  difference. 

Meanwhile,    in   spite   of  their  numerical    insignificance, 
the    Parnellites    had    still   great    power.      John    Redmond 
and    the    Lord    Mayor  of  Dublin   were  untiring  in  their 
determination  to  make  the  Parnell  celebrations  a  success 
and    to   bring    back  to   the   hearts  of   Irishmen  the  love 
of  their  great  leader,   and  make  the  erection  of  a  public 
monument     not    merely    a    party    question,    but    one  of 
national  importance.     And  although  the  Lord  Mayor  was 
described  by   his   opponents    merely    as    Mr.    Redmond's 
Sancho  Panza,  the  success  of  the  American  mission  was 
beyond    their    most    sanguine    expectations.     Invitations 
poured  in  from  every  side,  and    the    greatest    enthusiasm 
greeted  their  advent.     In    New    York    they    received    the 
freedom  of  the  city,  and  though  they  accepted  few,  they 
received     dozens     of    welcomes    from     the     other    cities. 
When  once  the  delegates  returned  to  Dublin  they  found 
the  Parnellite  revival  was  in  full  swing  ;  while  when  the 
Conference  took    place,    the    letters  which   were   received 
from    men    who    formerly     had    opposed     Parnell    most 
bitterly   during    the    last    years    of   his    life,    like    Dillon, 
McCarthy     and     Blake,     showed     that     in     addition     to 
a    return    to    the    policy,    there    was  also  a  return  to  the 
man.     Needless    to    say     the   success    of    the    American 

125 


JOHN  REDMOND 

mission,  half  the  proceeds  of  which  were  given  to  the 
Parnell  statue  fund,  and  half  to  pay  off  the  debt  on  the 
Parnell  estate,  made  John  Redmond  in  a  sense  the  man 
of  the  hour. 

But  there  was  a  still  more  powerful  factor  at  work,  and 
this  was  brought  out  in  a  speech  by  John  Redmond,  at 
the  Mansion  House  early  in  1900,  in  which  he  said  that 
in  view  of  the  difficulties  of  England  in  the  South 
African  war,  there  was  no  telling  what  advantages 
might  not  arise  from  Ireland  pressing  vigorously  forward 
her  claims  for  Home  Rule  and  educational  equality, 
and  he  thought  that  the  man  who  under  these  circum- 
stances should  stand  in  the  way  of  Ireland  speaking 
with  a  united  voice  in  Parliament  would  be  nothing  short 
of  a  criminal. 

The  South  African  war  may,  therefore,  be  said  to 
have  been  one  of  the  most  potent  influences  in  favour 
of  the  reunion  of  the  party ;  for  without  some  great 
national  enthusiasm  the  sordid  faction  fight  might  pos- 
sibly have  continued  for  years  until  the  whole  body  of 
Irish  public  opinion  had  been  discredited.  Hence  it  was 
with  a  feeling  of  great  national  emotion  that,  when  at 
last  the  reunited  party  met  in  Westminster,  the  follow- 
ing resolution  was  passed  : 

"  That    in    the    name  of  Ireland  we  declare  at  an  end 

the  divisions  which  hitherto  separated  the  Irish  Nationalist 

representatives,  and  we  hereby    form    ourselves    into   one 

126 


THE   INDEPENDENT 

united  party,  in  accordance  with  the  principles  and  under 
the  constitution  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  party  from 
1885  to  1890." 

The  second  great  resolution  was  the  election  of  Mr. 
Redmond  to  the  leadership  of  the  reunited  party.  And 
it  must  have  been  not  without  a  certain  sense  of 
triumph  that  the  leader  of  the  small  Parnellite  minority 
took  the  chair,  feeling  as  he  must  have  done  that  the 
principles  of  Parnell  had  at  last  been  vindicated  by 
experience,  and  that  his  own  loyalty  to  his  chief  had 
been  at  last  justified.  For  the  election  had  decided  not 
only  a  question  of  persons,  but  also  one  of  principles  ; 
and  it  was  the  revivification  not  only  of  the  authority  of 
Parnell,  but  also  of  his  policy  of  combat. 


127 


CHAPTER  VI 

1900 

THE    NEW    LEADER 

"  TF  there  is  one  wish  which  I  wish  the  Irish  cause," 
Gladstone  is  reported  to  have  said  shortly  after  Par- 
nell's  death,  "  it  is  that  the  champions  may  be  reunited." 
It  would,  therefore,  have  been  with  feelings  of  pleasure 
that  he  would  have  read  of  the  ending  of  the  split,  and 
the  election  of  a  successor  to  Parnell  in  the  person  of  his 
champion,  John  Redmond. 

It  was  really  a  political  event  of  the  highest  import- 
ance, but  the  South  African  War,  just  then  at  its  most 
critical  stage,  had  thrown  all  home  politics  into  the  shade. 
Notwithstanding  this,  however,  it  did  not  fail  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  the  more  serious  representatives  of  the 
Press.  "  This  is  an  important  and  significant  event," 
wrote  the  Daily  News,  "  which  in  quieter  times  would 
have  excited  the  greatest  possible  interest.  Even  as  it  is, 
to  those  who  look  beyond  the  situation  of  the  hour  and 
the  lifetime  of  this  Parliament,  the  election  of  Mr.  Red- 
mond, and  all    that    it    means,    is  food    for   thought  :    for 

there  are  few  men   in  the  House  who  come  near  to  him 

128 


liy  luiiil i)irinis<i'<ii  •</  •■  Vnuittj  i'nir," 

ELISHA. 


\_To  t'aei'  i>    128. 


THE   NEW   LEADER 

in  point  of  dignity  and  eloquence,  and  certainly  no  man 
who  understands  better  the  way  in  which  that  peculiar 
assembly  should  be  addressed." 

The  Times  could  only  see  in  the  election  of  John 
Redmond  the  strengthening  of  the  pro-Boer  element  : 
"  The  whole  force  of  the  Irish  Nationalists,"  it  wrote, 
"  is  once  more  reunited  as  in  the  days  of  Parnell.  Mr. 
Redmond  is  an  able  figure  and  a  considerable  Parlia- 
mentary figure,  and  it  may  be  that  if  he  were  to  act 
independently  he  might  put  forward  a  policy  upon  which 
it  might  not  be  impossible  for  a  British  Government  to 
meet  him.  Unfortunately,  however,  Mr.  Redmond  has 
been  chosen  to  represent  the  most  violent  and  most 
irreconcilable  firebrands  of  Irish  Nationalism.  We  have 
to  deal  with  a  declared  attitude  of  hostility  on  the  part 
of  the  Irish  Nationalists  towards  the  British  Empire  which 
cannot  be  ignored.  There  is  abundant  evidence  to  show 
all  that  Irish  Nationalists  are  not  only  in  sympathy  with 
the  enemies  of  the  British  Empire,  but  that  they  are 
using  whatever  influence  lies  in  their  power  to  embarrass 
our  Imperial  policy." 

However  much  to   be   deplored,   this   open   declaration 

of  hostility  was  not  without  its  wholesome  lesson,  and,  as 

the  Speaker  observed,  was   a  thing   that   required    to   be 

understood,  for   even   supposing   the   war    successful,    the 

difficulty    would   only   be   beginning.      "  Imagine    British 

supremacy  vindicated  and  Dutch  nationality  suppressed," 

129  9 


JOHN    REDMOND 

it  wrote.  "  Let  Boer  aspirations  be  denounced  as  treason 
and  let  the  subjugated  provinces  be  occupied  by  10,000 
British  soldiers.  With  the  history  of  Ireland  before  him, 
is  there  any  thoughtful  citizen  who  imagines  that  the 
programme  we  have  sketched  out  will  produce  loyalty 
and  contentment  from  the  Zambesi  to  Table  Bay ;  will 
twenty  years  of  resolute  government  do  it  ?  Can  Dutch 
sentiment  be  killed  by  kindness  ?  For  those  who  have 
eyes  to  see,  the  reunion  of  Ireland  has  its  significance 
in  relation  to  our  South  African  difficulties  no  less  than 
to  our  troubles  at  home." 

The  attitude  both  of  the  leader  and  the  party,  how- 
ever, was  only  what  was  to  be  expected  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  great  mistake  of  over-centralized 
governments  is  precisely  that  treatment  of  sub-national- 
ities of  the  empire  as  so  many  counties  of  one  kingdom, 
absolutely  ignoring  the  omnipotent  factor  of  politics — 
nationality.  Ireland  had  never  been  treated  as  she 
really  is,  a  separate  nation,  yet  it  is  always  resented 
when  she  refuses  to  act  as  she  cannot  possibly  do,  like 
a  mere  county.     The  mistake  is  with  her  rulers. 

Nationality    is    a   fact    to    be    reckoned    with,    guided, 

humoured,  and  developed  within  proper  limits  ;  to  ignore 

it,  or  attempt  to  suppress    it,    is    not  only  going   against 

one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  politics,  but    one    of  the 

unalterable  laws  of   Nature.     If  to-day    South    Africa   is 

loyal,  and  Ireland  still  disloyal,  it  is  entirely  due   to   the 

130 


THE   NEW   LEADER 

fact  that  Ireland's  national  aspirations  are  thwarted  at 
every  turn,  while  those  of  the  Dutch  have  been  respected. 
Plencc  the  attitude  of  the  party  was  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  situation,  and  must  ever  remain  the  same  until  that 
situation  has  been  altered.  This  fact  is  the  key  to  the 
understanding  of  the  man. 

"  The  action  of  the  Irish   party  means  this,"    continues 
the  Speaker,  "  that  we  are  about  to  be   reduced  by  their 
concerted  action  in  the  present  crisis  to  the  same  dilemma 
as  vexed  England  fifteen  or  twenty  years    ago.      Ireland 
has  proved  herself  a    sub-nationality  within    the    Empire. 
The  French  Canadians  may  or  may  not  be  such  a  com- 
munity, the  Cape  Dutch  may    or    may    not    be,    but   the 
Irish  most  undoubtedly  are.     With    such    a    policy   there 
are  two  ways  of  dealing.     You  may  occupy  militarily  and 
govern    despotically,  or   you  may  grant  local   self-govern- 
ment :    there  is  no  other  way.     Every  day    increases   the 
bitterness  of  the  situation    and    makes    the    impossibility 
of  a  third  course  more    impossible.      There    must    be    no 
more  talk  of  predominant  partners  ;    it  is  not    a    position 
to  be  out-flanked  by  gentlemanly   breaches    of   faith.      A 
Liberal  will  have  soon  to  ask  himself  the    question   once 
for  all  :    '  Am  I  in  favour  of  Home  Rule   or   Coercion  ? ' 
and    unless    he    knows    his    own    mind,  the  party  named 
may    a    few    months    hence    be    once    more    involved    in 
one     more     national      crisis."       (February      loth,      1900. 
Speaker^ 

131  9* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

This,  of  course,  would  depend  upon  the  power  of 
cohesion  that  existed  in  the  party  and  which  rendered 
the  Parnellite  policy  possible  ;  but  apart  from  the  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  unity,  there  were  several  reasons 
why  John  Redmond  should  have  been  selected. 

The  reunion,  coming  as  it  did  immediately  after 
that  very  Radical  alliance  had  been  finally  cast  off 
to  which  the  strong  and  formidable  dictation  of  the  old 
Irish  party  had  been  sacrificed,  it  was  in  every  way 
fitting  that  John  Redmond,  who  had  advocated  this  step, 
should  succeed  to  Parnell ;  and  though  Mr.  Dillon  said 
he  did  not  like  the  word  "  return "  to  the  policy  of  the 
party  before  1890,  he  could  not  help  admitting  the  fact. 
But  what  was  chiefly  felt  in  Ireland  was,  not  the 
necessity  of  the  Parnellite  theory  so  much  as  perman- 
ence of  the  Parnellite  action.  "  Everybody  knows,"  wrote 
the  Irish  People,  "that  if  that  agreement  is  to  be  con- 
tinued and  to  have  any  permanence,  it  can  only  be  by 
making  the  organized  power  of  the  people  more  wide- 
spread and  formidable  than  ever.  The  country  will 
require  some  guarantee  of  the  sincerity  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  new  treaty  of  peace.  The  only  real 
guarantee  available  is  the  presence  of  an  organization  of 
the  people,  impartial  enough  to  be  independent  of  all 
the  sections,  and  strong  enough  to  impress  them  all." 
An  organization   of  this   kind   was   found   in  the  United 

Irish  League,  which  has  continued  to  increase,  and  from 

132 


THE   NEW  LEADER 

which  the  party  draws  all  its  effective  strength  and  the 
nation  its  unity.  Probably,  without  it,  nothing  could 
have  ensured  his  position  as  leader.  It  forms  the 
national  base  of  the  pyramid  of  which  John  Redmond 
is  the  apex,  and  what  was  a  still  further  guarantee,  was 
that  it  seemed  generally  recognized  that  the  right  man 
was  in  the  right  place. 

"  The  suavity  of  Mr.  Harrington  and  the  fluency  of 
Mr.  Healy  have  all  their  proper  place,"  wrote  the  Daily 
Chronicle,  "  but  there  is  only  one  man  in  the  party 
who  is  capable  of  recalling,  however  faintly,  the  iron 
hand  and  iron  discipline  of  Mr.  Parnell,  and  that  man 
is  John  Redmond."  Perhaps,  however,  it  was  more  his 
"  urbanity  "  than  his  other  qualities  which  were  necessary 
to  unite  the  sympathies  of  men  who  for  years  had 
poured  forth  all  the  vials  of  their  wrath  upon  each 
other.  Indeed,  as  Frank  H.  O'Donnell  suggests,  he 
seemed  the  only  possible  leader.  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy 
had  always  been  more  in  love  with  literature  than 
politics.  John  Dillon  he  calls  "the  special  representative 
of  Maynooth."  Mr.  Healy  was  too  much  of  an  in- 
dividualist either  to  form  or  follow  any  party.  Mr. 
W.  O'Brien's  wonderful  powers  of  organization  made  him 
for  a  time  leader  in  all  but  name,  but  only  for  a  while. 
Therefore,  quite  apart  from  questions  of  personality,  it 
seemed  fitting  that  if  it  were  really  a  return  to  the 
Parnellite    policy,  none    could    be    more    worthy    of    the 

133 


JOHN  REDMOND 

position  than  the  man  who  had  kept  his  banner  flying, 
and  eventually  converted  back  to  his  principles  those 
who  with  such  disastrous  results  had  abandoned  them. 
"  Mr.  Redmond,  the  chief  of  the  rival  faction,"  writes 
Mr.  F.  H.  O'Donnell,  "  had  conducted  the  affairs  of  his 
miniature  party  with  marked  dignity  and  courtesy. 
None  of  the  foul  memories  of  the  sweeping-brush  era 
soiled  his  name.  He  had  touched  with  perfect  good 
humour  even  the  quarrels  of  his  rival's,  as  when,  borrow- 
ing an  incident  from  the  '  Ingoldsby  Legends,'  he 
suggested  in  connection  with  Mr.  Healy's  protean  attacks 
on    his    beloved  comrades  that 

"  '  Dillon  with  awe  when  his  tricks  he  saw, 

Said  the  devil  must  be  in  that  little  jackdaw.' 

And  the  gratification  of  having  such  an  urbane,  prudent, 
and  humorous  presiding  authority  in  the  common  chair 
may  have  sensibly  facilitated  the  restoration  of  external 
unity  between  the  rejoicing  fragments." 

In  addition  to  this,  John  Redmond  was  already  a 
a  persona  grata  with  the  House,  where  since  his  Home 
Rule  speeches  of  1893  he  commanded  both  respect  and 
attention  where  others  might  only  tire  or  amuse.  Thus 
the  Daily  Telegraph,  speaking  of  the  new  leader,  said  : 
"  Mr.  Redmond  totally  lacks  Mr.  Healy's  mastery  of 
detail,  and  that  earnestness  of  Mr.  Dillon,  which,  in  spite 
of  its  strident  tiresomeness,  produces  a  certain  effect 
upon  the  House.     The  quality  upon  which  Mr.  Parnell's 

134 


THE   NEW  LEADER 

successor  depends  is  a  power  of  sustained  dignity  and 
eloquence  of  statement  in  which  he  stands  almost  alone 
in  the  House.  He  can  deliberate  without  being  dull, 
and  be  emphatic  without  being  extravagant,  which 
means  among  all  the  emotional  rhetoric  of  the  Irish 
benches  Mr.  John  Redmond  is  the  only  person  who 
knows  how  to  address  the  House  of  Commons  with 
the  persuasiveness  of  Parliamentary  decorum." 

He  was  more  than  this,  however,  for  he  was  already 
recognized  as  one  of  the  five  or  six  who  in  twenty 
years'  time  would  be  makers  of  history  at  Westminster, 
as  Mr,  Stead  a  few  months  later  pointed  out  in  an 
admirable  character  sketch.  "Among  those  coming  men, 
not  one,"  he  writes,  "  had  achieved  such  a  commanding 
position  as  John  Redmond."  "  He  is  not  only  the  chief 
of  the  Irish  National  party,  he  is  the  leader  of  the  only 
effective  Opposition  that  exists  in  the  House  of  Commons 
at  the  present  day.  In  that  position  he  occupies  a  place 
in  the  British  Constitution  only  second  in  importance  to 
that  of  the  Prime  Minister.  It  is  true  that  at  the 
present,  national  prejudices  somewhat  obscure  the  truth 
from  the  English  and  Scotch,  but  in  the  House  of 
Commons  the  members  last  Session  began  to  realize 
where  their  power  lies,  and  repeatedly  in  the  course  of 
the  debates  Mr.  Balfour  referred  to  Mr.  Redmond  as  if 
he,  and  not  Sir  H.  Campbell-Bannerman,  were  the  real 
leader  of  His  Majesty's  Opposition.     Therein  Mr.  Balfour 

135 


JOHN    REDMOND 

paid  homage  to  facts.  Hence,  while  nominally  only 
the  leader  of  the  Irish  National  party,  Mr.  Redmond  is 
really  the  only  leader  of  the  Opposition  to  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  country.  It  is  a  great  position  for  so  young 
a  man." 

A  further  point  which    was    beginning    to    be    realized 
was  that  John    Redmond    was    not    merely    Irish  leader, 
but  was  also  a  great  democratic  leader.     "  Mr.  Redmond, 
as  the  leader  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  party,  possesses 
far    greater    importance    than    any    merely     Irish    leader 
has   had    for    many  years    past,"    continues    Mr.    Stead. 
"  Even    Mr.   Parnell    in    the    height    of   his    power    was 
much  less  important   to   the    Empire   than   is    Mr.    Red- 
mond, for    this    reason :    Mr.    Parnell    may     be    said    to 
have    existed    solely    for    Ireland     .     .     .     and     in     the 
heart    of   the     British    democracy    there    is    growing    a 
tendency,  democratic  and  socialistic,  which  feels  instinc- 
tively that  the  Irish  Nationalists  are  their  only  effective 
allies."     This  not  only  made  him  welcome   in   the   large 
cities,  but  also  paved  the  way  for  a  subsequent  intimate 
connection   being  established   between  the  Irish   and   the 
Labour    parties.       Another     quotation    shows    that    the 
choice  was  at  once  seen  to  be  the  right  one,  and    what- 
ever anticipations    had    been    made    had    proved    correct. 
"Mr.  Redmond  is  the  first  Irish   leader   who    has   given 
the  world  any  token  of  the    possession    of    the    qualities 

which  made  Mr.  Parnell  so  famous.     Mr.  Redmond  then 

136 


THE   NEW  LEADER 

being  called    to    supreme    command,    displayed    qualities 

with    which    he    had    not    hitherto    been    credited.      His 

readiness  in  debate,  his  self-control,  his  keen  appreciation 

of  the  vital  points  of  Parliamentary  strategy,  made  him  a 

power  in  the  House  of  Commons.     One   of  the    greatest 

of  our  Imperial  statesmen,  who  watches   the  proceedings 

in  the  parliamentary  arena,  declared  last    month   that   in 

his  opinion  Mr.  Redmond  was  the  ablest  parliamentarian 

in  the  present  (1901)  House  of  Commons.     Mr.  Redmond 

is  a  politician  first,  a  politician   second,  and    a   politician 

third.     As  an  individual  entity  he  is  almost  unknown  to 

any    except    his    intimates.     But    he    has   brought    keen 

intelligence  to  the  study  of  the   science   of   politics.     He 

has  given  his  mind  to  it,  and  spent    days   and    nights    in 

acquiring    knowledge    of   all    the    niceties    and    rules    of 

parliamentary  procedure.     He  is  not  embarrassed  by  the 

fear  of  mutinies  in  his  rear,  and  he  is  conscious  of  being 

armed  with  the  mandate  of  the  Irish  race." 

A  comparison  between  Parnell  and  Redmond  naturally 
suggests  itself  at  this  point,  though  perhaps  somewhat 
too  soon,  for  Redmond  is  even  yet,  after  ten  years  of 
leadership,  only  where  Parnell  was  before  1886.  But  the 
two  have  not  a  few  qualities  in  common.  Both  have 
commanding  personalities.  "  Parnell  is  the  only  person 
before  whom  I  have  seen  the  House  of  Commons  quail," 
said  Gladstone  once.  The  House  has  never  done  that 
of  John  Redmond,  but  there    are    few    who    command    a 

^Z1 


JOHN   REDMOND 

hearing  with  more  respect  and  authority.  Both  have  a 
certain  regal  aloofness  born  of  years  of  power  among 
their  fellows,  and  if  it  was  true  that  treating  with  Parnell 
was  like  treating  with  a  foreign  potentate,  certainly  the 
action  of  J.  Redmond  since  his  return  as  "  Dictator  "  in 
1 910  bears  no  little  resemblance  to  it. 

Again,  there  is  a  distinct  quality  of  leadership, 
which  among  a  group  in  the  lobby,  in  a  smoking- 
room,  at  a  public  meeting,  or  on  the  benches  of  the 
House,  singled  both  out  from  the  rank  and  file  and 
compels  attention.  Whether  because  of  the  compara- 
tive quietness  of  the  present  crisis,  whether  for  lack 
of  that  personal  magnetism  which  in  a  sense  was 
Parnell's,  whether  because  of  the  absence  or  distance 
of  such  tragedies  as  the  famine  and  the  emigration  of 
millions,  John  Redmond  does  not  evoke  that  almost 
hysterical  enthusiasm  which  greeted  Parnell  wherever  he 
went  almost  like  a  sovereign.  He  is  the  leader  of  the 
Irish  race  at  home  and  abroad — he  will  never  be  the 
uncrowned  King  of  Ireland  like  his  predecessor,  simply 
because  those  days  are  past  which  rendered  such  things 
possible.  Even  Napoleon  himself  would  hardly  be  more 
than  a  brilliant  political  leader  in  times  of  peace.  Where, 
however,  John  Redmond  gains  is  probably  in  that  very 
quality.  Redmond  is  more  for  times  of  peace :  Parnell 
for  times  of  war.  Redmond  could  assist  in  the  drawing 
up  of  a  constitution,  suggest  valuable  additions  to  render 

138 


THE   NEW   LEADER 

the  working  more  smooth,  help  in  estabh'shing  the  new 
order  and  settle  down  in  peace,  once  the  irritant  of  the 
ancient  regime  had  removed  all  grounds  for  further 
friction.  Parnell  was  a  species  of  political  battering-ram, 
in  which  all  the  forces  of  an  angry  nation  were  centred  ; 
he  could  destroy  the  antiquated  forms  of  Castle  govern- 
ment, but  it  is  doubtful  whether  his  mind  would  ever 
have  got  rid  of  that  hostility  which  to  be  rational  must 
be  based  upon  objective  grievances.  In  short,  it  is 
doubtful  if  Parnell  could  ever  have  built  or  have 
forgiven. 

Redmond  in  this  respect  is  superior  to  Parnell.  He 
could  become  a  Prime  Minister  of  Ireland  with  the  same 
thoroughness  with  which  he  was,  and  by  some  is  still 
thought  to  be,  the  permanent  leader  of  the  Opposition  ; 
Parnell  could  never  have  taken  office,  and  in  this  the  two 
bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  great  Boer  generals. 
De  Wet  was  a  man  of  war.  Botha,  a  man  of  war  and 
peace.  Both  were  equally  patriots  ;  but  the  latter  was 
superior  in  that  he  possessed  the  qualities  of  peace. 
Redmond,  whether  at  the  Bar  or  in  a  civil  appointment, 
would  always  have  risen  ;  Parnell  would  have  remained 
unknown  except  in  war — indeed  his  first  speeches  had 
stamped  him  as  a  nonentity. 

It  was  with  these  qualities,  therefore,  that  the  new 
Parnellite  leader  was  enthroned  in  the  Chairmanship  of 
the    Irish    party   as   the    plenipotentiary   of  the  National 

139 


JOHN   REDMOND 

cause.  Balance  of  mind,  elevation  of  thought,  dignity 
of  bearing,  and  a  gradual  sobering  of  early  exuberances 
were  fitting  him  yearly  more  and  more  for  the  position 
and  distinguishing  him  from  those  of  his  colleagues  who 
are  to-day  in  exactly  the  same  mental  state  and 
political  position  as  they  were  before  twenty  years  of 
experience. 

It  is  often  said  that  John  Redmond  is  not  such  a 
striking  figure  as  Parnell.  The  words  are  misleading. 
It  would  be  a  pity  to  judge  of  political  capacity  by 
mere  picturesqueness  of  personality.  Politics  are  not 
picturesque,  and  a  statesman's  portrait  must  always  lack 
the  glowing  colours  of  the  military  uniform  and  the 
background  of  clouds  and  cannon  ;  nor  do  parlia- 
mentary contests  lend  themselves  to  scenic  effect.  That 
is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  reasons  why  John  Redmond  as 
a  personality  does  not  strike  the  casual  observer  with 
such  vividness  as  his  predecessor.  For  there  was  an 
element  of  the  soldier  in  that  political  Bismarck.  There 
was  something  of  the  general  in  that  silent  and  severe 
leader,  as,  pale  with  anger,  his  arms  crossed  in  front  of 
him,  he  surveyed  the  benches  of  angry  members.  The 
Pigott  letters,  the  Treaty  of  Kilmainham,  the  O'Shea 
divorce,  all  these  surround  him  with  a  halo  of  tragedy 
which  would  have  made  a  lesser  man  a  hero. 

John    Redmond    lacks    all    these.     But    the    story    of 

Committee  Room  15  and  the  fidelity  of  the   little   band 

140 


THE   NEW  LEADER 

of  devoted  followers,  the  sudden  and  tragic  death  of  the 
chief  and  the  heroic  and  persevering  fidelity  of  his 
champion  to  the  dead  leader's  honour  and  his  policy, 
till  almost  single-handed  he  had  brought  about  the  return 
of  the  whole  nation  to  remorse  and  homage,  is  not 
without  an  element  of  the  romantic  to  the  student  of 
character.  And  indeed,  were  the  same  scenes  placed  in 
an  historical  setting  of  the  Middle  Ages,  they  would 
form  one  of  the  most  dramatic  and  interesting  pages  in 
Irish  history. 

With  very  (e\v  alterations  one  can  picture  some 
Mediaeval  king  pleading  the  rights  of  an  oppressed 
people :  one  can  see  him  surrounded  by  his  devoted 
followers  with  a  whole  nation  at  his  back.  Suddenly  a 
domestic  tragedy  shocks  the  world,  and  with  one  accord 
the  love  of  his  subjects  forgives.  His  followers  renew 
their  oaths  of  allegiance  as  does  the  whole  nation,  but 
this  has  no  sooner  been  done  than  this  pretext  is  taken 
to  break  his  power.  The  enemy  require  his  deposition. 
The  thunders  of  the  Vatican  peal  forth.  His  condemna- 
tion is  nailed  on  every  cathedral  door.  Then  one  by 
one,  after  having  assured  their  king  that  his  leadership 
was  essential  to  the  triumph  of  their  cause,  and  besought 
him  to  remain  steadfast,  the  great  barons  and  courtiers 
whom  he  had  helped  and  loved  desert  him,  and  it  is 
left    to    one    of  the    youngest   and    least    known    of   his 

followers    to    take    up    his    defence.     A    few    months    of 

141 


JOHN   REDMOND 

strife    and    the   king   is   dead,   and    for  years    the   young 
champion    defends   his    name   and   honour,    all    the   while 
calling  the  nation  back  to  that  policy  of  combat  whence 
they  had  been  drawn  by  a  mock    policy   of  conciliation. 
Gradually  the  thunders   of  excommunication    cease :    the 
nation    recognizes    only    too  late,    as    it    goes    repentant 
yearly   to  his  tomb,  that  with  their    king   they    had  also 
killed    their    cause,  and    after    years   of  strife  the  barons 
meet,    the    rival    leaders    resign,   and    out    of   homage    to 
the    mighty    dead,    elect    his    young    champion    to    raise 
the  fallen  banner   and  lead  their  united  hosts  once  more. 
Of  course,    I  admit    the    image  is    entirely  overdrawn. 
But  the  Irish  have  a  high  sense  of  the   dramatic,  and  in 
the  event   of    some   other    catastrophe    dividing     Ireland 
again,  the  record  of  a  life  of  fidelity  to  his  leader  would 
probably   prove  one  of  the  strongest  claims   which   John 
Redmond     would     have     upon     the     allegiance      of    his 
followers  in  saving  him    from  a  fate   from  which  he,  had 
he  been  listened  to,  would  have  saved  Parnell,     He   had 
learnt     to   lead    in    that  best    of   schools — the   school    of 
discipleship. 

Everything,  therefore,  both  internally  and  externally, 
from  the  personality  of  the  leader  down  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  smallest  branch  of  the  United  Irish  League, 
was  ready  for  the  reuniting  of  the  party.  A  new  lease 
of  life   had    been   given   to   Irish   politics,  and   the    Irish 

leader  threw   himself  eagerly   into  the  task  of  reorganiz- 

142 


THE  NEW  LEADER 

ing  the  party,  arranging  for  the  distribution  of  parlia- 
mentary work,  and  in  every  way  preparing  to  continue 
that  independent  and  persistent  opposition  which  would 
alone  draw  attention  to  the  long  neglected  grievances  of 
his  country. 

With  this  purpose  he  issued  the  following  manifesto, 
interesting  not  only  because  of  the  personal  note  of 
earnestness  running  through  it,  but  also  as  a  record  of 
work  done  and  to  be  done  : 

"  To  the  People  of  Ireland  : 
"  Fellow-countrymen — 

"  After  nine  years  of  disunion  and  weakness  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Nationalist  representatives  of 
Ireland  in  Parliament,  a  United  Irish  Nationalist 
Parliamentary  Party  has  once  more  been  formed,  on 
the  principles  and  under  the  constitution  of  the  Irish 
Party  from  1885 — 1890.  This  event,  as  every  indi- 
cation of  public  feeling  and  opinion  shows,  has  been 
heartily  welcomed  by  every  section  of  the  National- 
ist party  in  Ireland.  It  is  an  event  which  will,  if 
the  Irish  people  so  choose,  mark  a  turning-point 
in  the  history  of  the  National  movement.  For  the 
last  nine  years  the  progress  of  that  movement  in 
Parliament  and  Ireland  had  been  arrested,  the 
efficiency  of  the  Irish  Nationalist  representatives  in 
the  House  of   Commons  was  seriously  impaired,  and 

143 


JOHN   REDMOND 

the  organization  of  the  people  in  Ireland,  without 
which  a  parliamentary  party  is  of  comparatively 
little  value,  fell  to  pieces.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
revert  now  to  the  causes  of  the  disunion  which 
brought  about  these  lamentable  results.  The  chapter 
has  been  closed  by  the  wise  and  patriotic  action 
of  the  Irish  representatives,  and  the  thoughts  of 
men  on  all  sides  of  the  contest  that  has  been 
waged  are  now  turned  on  the  future  and  its 
possibilities. 

"  As  disunion  has  certainly  been  fraught  with 
evil  consequences,  so  it  is  equally  certain  that  union 
may,  under  certain  conditions,  be  made  the  means 
of  once  more  rendering  the  weapon  which  the  Con- 
stitution has  placed  in  the  hands  of  Ireland  potent 
for  the  redress  of  National  grievances  and  the 
winning  back  of  our  right  to  National  Self-Govern- 
ment. 

"  The    opportunities    which    the  party  system  in 

Great    Britain    by    its    very   nature    opens   up  to  an 

Irish  party,  numerous,  united,  constant  in  attendance 

and  independent  of  all  British   parties,  are  known  to 

us    by    experience.       Ministries  have  been  made  and 

unmade     by     such     a    party ;      benefits    have    been 

wrested   from  reluctant  and    even    hostile  majorities  ; 

policies    have    been    altered     to    the    advantage     of 

Ireland    by    the    steady    and     sustained    compulsion 

144 


THE   NEW  LEADER 

of  an  Irish  parliamentary  force,  known  to  speak 
for  the  nation,  acting  as  a  single  man,  and 
taking  advantage  of  every  occasion  of  attack  and 
defence. 

"  The  opportunities  for  achievements  of  such 
a  character  are  likely  in  tb^  future  to  be,  not  less, 
but  more  numerous  than  at  any  period  in  the  past. 
The  present  time  is  absolutely  ripe  with  possibilities. 
The  gravest  crisis  in  the  memory  of  living  man  has 
arisen  in  the  affairs  of  the  Empire,  and  no  one  can 
tell  the  moment  when  80  Irish  members,  thinking 
only  of  the  interests  of  their  own  country,  may  be 
able  to  extract  from  the  situation  its  legitimate 
fruit.  The  question  is,  will  the  people  of  Ireland 
enable  their  representatives  to  take  advantage  of 
these  possibilities  ? — and  the  answer  to  it  admits  of 
no  delay. 

"  The  supreme  question  of  National  Self-Govern- 
ment  must  be  restored  to  its  rightful  position  as  the 
greatest  and  most  urgent  of  all  political  issues,  but 
apart  from  the  question  of  Home  Rule,  Ireland 
stands  in  immediate  need  of  several  reforms  of  the 
first  importance. 

"  The    land    question    is    still   unsolved.      It   can 

never  be  solved  till  the    industry  of  agriculture — the 

main     industry     of    our    country — is     freed     of    an 

occupying  proprietary  by  the  universal  establishment 

145  10 


JOHN    REDMOND 

of  compulsory  purchase,  from  the  burden  which 
still  weighs  it  down,  and  by  some  great  scheme 
for  replacing  the  land  in  the  poverty-stricken 
districts  of  the  West  in  the  possession  of  the 
people. 

"  The  industry  of  agriculture  and  all  the  other 
industries  of  Ireland  are  the  victims  of  a  system  of 
over-taxation,  the  most  iniquitous  in  its  conception 
and  in  its  results  of  any  in  the  civilized  world.  If 
the  plunder  of  Ireland  which  is  effected  by  that 
system  is  not  stopped,  the  Irish  nation  will  bleed 
to  death. 

"  The  old  policy  by  which  the  majority  of  the 
nation  was,  in  the  past,  condemned  by  law  to  ignor- 
ance unless  it  forfeited  its  religious  faith  is  still 
persisted  in  as  regards  that  portion  of  our  Catholic 
people  who  are  anxious  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
benefits  of  University  education.  Those  of  our 
Catholic  youth  who  might  naturally  be  expected  to 
become  the  leaders  of  public  opinion  are  still 
condemned  by  the  spirit  of  an  old-world  bigotry 
to  deprive  themselves  of  the  advantage  of  the  higher 
training  of  the  intellect,  unless  they  resort  to  institu- 
tions founded  and  carried  on  in  principles  at  variance 
with  their  religious  convictions.  These  and  many 
other  questions    press  with  daily    increasing    urgency 

for  settlement.     Much  may  be  done  to  further   their 

146 


THE   NEW   LEADER 

solution,  even  during  the  present  session  of  Parlia- 
ment, if  the  action  of  their  parliamentary  represen- 
tatives in  closing  up  their  ranks  and  absolutely 
burying  past  feuds  is  backed  up  by  corresponding 
action  on  the  part  of  those  whom  they  represent, 
and  if  these  representatives  are  now  enabled  by  their 
constituents  to  give  to  the  discharge  of  their  duties 
in  the  House  of  Commons  that  continuous  atten- 
dance and  unsleeping  vigilance  without  which  a 
fighting  parliamentary  party  is  impossible. 

"  Holding  these  views,  and  believing  that  no 
time  should  be  lost  in  putting  them  before  you,  I 
now  appeal  to  you  to  supply,  with  as  little  delay  as 
possible,  the  pecuniary  support  necessary  for  the 
prosecution  of  a  campaign  of  combat  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  The  Irish  members  have  done  their 
part  by  reuniting  without  any  reserve  in  face  of  a 
critical  situation.  It  remains  for  the  people  of 
Ireland  to  enable  them  to  renew,  in  face  of  both 
the  parties  in  Great  Britain,  the  determined  struggle 
for  Irish  rights  which  has  been  so  long  and  so 
unhappily  interrupted. 

"  It    is    impossible,  and    it   would    be    unjust,  to 

expect   that    Irish    members    should    not    only    give 

their  time    and    sacrifice    their   own    private  interests 

to  the  advancement  of  the  public    cause,  but    should 

also   bear    the  whole    pecuniary    burden    entailed    by 

147  10* 


JOHN    REDMOND 

prolonged    attendance  at  Westminster.      I,  therefore, 
ask    you,    fellow-countrymen,    to    subscribe    with    as 
much  promptness  and    liberality   as  you    can    to  the 
sessional  fund  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary    Party. 
"  I  remain, 

"  Fellow-countrymen, 

"  Your  faithful  Servant, 

"J.  E.  Redmond. 
"  lo  Feb.,  1900." 

Meanwhile  the  elections  had  generally  endorsed  the 
action  of  the  party  and  Parnellism  had  come  to  life 
again. 

"  In  my  opinion,"  wrote  Mr.  Redmond  in  October, 
1900,  "the  elections  showed  conclusively  that  the  Par- 
nellite  split  is  at  an  end.  Wherever  contests  occurred 
entirely  new  causes  arose,  and  everywhere,  all  over  the 
country,  Parnellites  and  anti-Parnellites  were  found 
working  together  without  any  trace  of  the  bitterness  of 
the  past.  In  the  second  place,  the  elections,  in  my 
judgment,  have  proved  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt 
the  universal  desire  and  determination  of  the  people  to 
have  a  united  Irish  movement  in  and  out  of  Parliament 
based  upon  Parnell's  policy  of  independence  and  even 
of  distrust  of  all  English  parties — a  policy  of  aloofness 
and  combat.  The  next  thing  which,  I  think,  the  elec- 
tions   have    shown    is   that   the   machinery   put   into   the 

148 


THE   NEW   LEADER 

hands  of  the  people  for  the  election  of  candidates  by 
the  directory  of  the  United  Irish  League  has,  on  the 
whole,  worked  well." 

While  as  to  the  future  of  the  new  party  he  expressed 
himself  as  follows  : — • 

"  For  myself,  I  believe  there  is  a  great  future  before 
the  new  party.  The  needs  for  the  immediate  future 
are  therefore — firstly,  a  stern  maintenance  of  unity  and 
discipline  in  our  ranks ;  secondly,  a  fearless  and  aggres- 
sive policy  of  combat  in  and  out  of  Parliament ;  and 
thirdly,  a  faithful  attendance  of  their  duties  at  West- 
minster by  all  the  members  of  the  new  party.  As  to 
what  Irish  questions  will  most  prominently  engage  the 
attention  of  the  new  Parliament,  I  can  say  nothing. 
The  over-taxation  of  our  country,  the  claim  of  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  for  equal  rights  with  their  Pro- 
testant fellow-countrymen  in  the  matter  of  higher 
education,  and  the  urgent  need  for  the  settlement  of 
the  land  question  on  the  lines  of  compulsory  purchase 
— all  these  matters  must  come  up  for  early  considera- 
tion, and  the  chances  of  their  settlement  depends 
ab.solutely  upon  the  reality  of  our  union  and  the 
strength  of  our  organization ;  but  never  let  us  forget 
that  for  us  the  National  question  overshadows  all 
others." 


149 


CHAPTER   VII 

JOHN   REDMOND   AND  THE   CONSERVATIVES 

1900 — 1905 

THE   SOUTH   AFRICAN   WAR — HIS   LOYALTY — 
DEVOLUTION 

n^HE  first  period  of  John    Redmond's   leadership   may 

be  said    to   extend    from    his   election   as   chairman 

in    1900,  to   his   defeat   of  the   Unionist   Government   in 

1905.      It    was    chiefly    characterized    by    a    return    to 

Parnellite    methods,     a    strong    opposition,   a    prolonged 

agitation,  and  as  a  result  Wyndham's  Land  Act ;    but  it 

was    also   significant    for   the   failure   of  the  Government 

to  solve  the   Irish  University   question,  a   return   to   the 

Ulster   spirit   by   the   abandonment    of  the   principles   of 

devolution,    and    an     attempt    to    cut    down    the    Irish 

representation  at  Westminster. 

As  far  as    John  Redmond    was    concerned,    his    policy 

seems  to  have  been  to  extract  all  the  concessions  possible, 

but  at  the  same  time  prepare  the  way  for  the  reiteration 

of  the  historical  demand  for  full  Home  Rule.     This  was, 

throughout,  the  root-principle  of  all   his   actions,  whether 

150 


REDMOND   AND   THE  CONSERVATIVES 

it  was  the  exclusion  of  Mr.  Healy  from  his  party  as 
essential  to  the  smooth  working  of  that  body,  or  the 
refusal  of  all  half  measures,  like  the  Councils  Bill  later. 
And  h  is  for  this  reason  that,  though  eventually  the 
Unionists  might  have  satisfied  the  Irish  party  on  the 
question  of  University  teaching  and  land  transfer,  their 
steady  refusal  to  advance  along  the  lines  of  devolution 
caused  the  Irish  leader  to  turn  them  out  of  office. 

While  the  Unionist  Government  was  in  power  the 
pursuit  of  this  policy  was  no  easy  matter  :  that  Govern- 
ment was  hostile  in  spirit  and  overwhelmingly  strong  in 
point  of  votes,  and  the  first  act  of  the  Irish  leader  was 
certainly  not  one  calculated  to  win  much  enthusiasm  for 
the  Irish  cause.  It  was,  as  everyone  remembers,  one  of 
open  sympathy  for  the  South  African  republics — a 
sentiment  which  had  done  more  to  unite  the  party  than 
any  argument  could  have  done,  and  likewise  a  sentiment 
that  did  more  to  strengthen  English  bigotry  ;  and  the 
reunion  of  the  country  in  one  party,  one  policy,  one 
organization  and  one  leader  only  gave  more  effective- 
ness to  the  expression  of  it.  To  have  refrained  would 
have  been  more  diplomatic,  perhaps :  but  it  would  have 
been  less  sincere  and,  therefore,  less  Irish.  Accordingly, 
at  the  very  beginning  of  the  session  John  Redmond, 
voicing  the  general  attitude  of  the  Irish  Nationalist  Press, 
proposed  an  amendment  to  the  Address  to  the  effect 
that,  on    the    conclusion    of   the    war,    peace    should    be 

151 


JOHN   REDMOND 

settled  upon  the  basis  of  the  independence  of  the  Trans- 
vaal and  the  Orange  Free  State.  It  was  lost  by  358  to 
66,  and  as  a  result  has  embittered  the  spirit  in  which 
Englishmen  take  up  Irish  questions  ;  but  it  must  always 
be  remembered  that  there  is  something  very  subjective 
about  English  patriotism :  something  very  objective 
about  Irish. 

Ask  the  average  Briton  why  he  went  to  war  with  the 
Boers  and  he  would  to  this  day  stumble  for  an  answer : 
ask  the  average  Celt  why  he  sympathized  with  the  Boers 
and  he  will  be  able  to  hold  forth  for  an  hour  on  the 
disastrous  results  of  a  suppressed  nationality.  The 
South  African  War  was,  after  all,  an  open  question  on 
which  English  parties  were  themselves  divided ;  it 
might,  therefore,  become  a  subject  for  patriotism  :  it  could 
hardly  become  its  criterion.  And  despite  the  wild  bursts 
of  enthusiasm  on  English  defeats  in  many  quarters,  every 
calm  critic  was  struck  by  the  singular  moderation  of  the 
Irish  leader's  attitude  compared  with  such  displays.  "  I 
will  plead  the  cause  of  the  Boers  on  their  own  merits," 
was  John  Redmond's  attitude,  and  in  this  sense  he  was 
a  "  pro-Boer "  ;  but  "  anti-English "  is  quite  a  different 
standpoint,  and  he  would  hardly  be  the  man  to  rejoice 
in  a  defeat  purely  from  vindictiveness  and  merely  to 
diminish  the  prestige  or  security  of  an  Empire  Irish 
blood     has     built,    Irish     blood     preserves,    Irish     blood 

peoples. 

152 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

It  was  all  the  difference  between  mere  race  hatred,  or 
"Anglophobia,"  which  in  Ireland  is  often  a  substitute  for 
patriotism,  and  that  higher  sense  of  justice  which  raises 
its  voice  in  protest  against  wars  of  unjustified  aggression. 
No  doubt  there  are  Irish  fanatics  who  would  like  to  see 
the  Germans  in  London.  John  Redmond  would  probably 
be  the  last  man  in  the  party  to  rejoice  at  such  a  dis- 
aster, for  he  knows  that  the  prosperity  of  millions  of 
Irishmen  in  England  and  the  Colonies  would  be  affected 
thereby.  If  to  be  loyal  was  to  rejoice  at  the  downfall 
of  the  two  republics,  John  Redmond  was  certainly  dis- 
loyal and  would  probably  have  said,  like  Davitt,  that  he 
would  not  purchase  Home  Rule  at  the  price  of  Boer 
independence.  If  to  be  disloyal  was  to  wish  the  down- 
fall of  the  Empire  and  plot  its  destruction,  Mr.  Redmond 
was  certainly  loyal.  But  in  both  cases  his  patriotism 
was  objective,  like  that  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  Burke 
and  Fox,  and  were  the  just  demands  of  any  of  the 
Colonies  to  be  withheld  to-morrow,  he  would  probably 
be  the  loudest  in  giving  voice  to  his  rejoicings  over  their 
revolt. 

The  first  sessions  were,  therefore,  chiefly  noted  for  the 
continued  attacks  upon  the  Government's  policy  and 
action  with  regard  to  the  South  African  republics,  an 
attitude  which  was  warmly  appreciated  by  the  late  Presi- 
dent Kruger.  "  I  know  of  your  efforts  on  our  behalf," 
said  the  latter  in  an    interview  with  the  leader's  brother, 

153 


JOHN   REDMOND 

William  Redmond.  "  I  look  upon  the  Irish  as  brothers 
in  oppression.  I  am  well  aware  of  their  sympathy  and  I 
thank  them  for  being  upon  the  side  of  justice.  I  hope 
they  will  continue  to  support  us,  and  feel  that  in  doing 
so  they  are  supporting  the  side  upon  which  God  will 
ultimately  declare  Himself.  I  could  not  but  be  grateful 
to  the  Irish  people.  Tell  the  Irish  members  I  am  deeply 
grateful  for  their  efforts.  I  hope  they  will  continue  them, 
as  our  cause  is  that  of  justice  and  of  truth."  (Aug. 
1904.) 

This  attitude,  however  justified  in  point  of  fact,  was, 
as  far  as  the  English  electorate  were  concerned,  the  last 
word  on  Home  Rule  for  years,  and  would  have  been  as 
fatal  to  a  Bill  in  that  direction  as  the  Phcenix  Park 
murders  had  been  to  that  of  1886.  Here  again  it  was 
a  false  logic  that  reasoned  on  the  facts,  but  as  it  was 
made  the  most  of  by  the  Unionist  Press  it  may  not 
be  out  of  place,  therefore,  to  treat  it  at  some  length. 
For  quite  apart  from  the  action  of  the  Irish  leader 
upon  this  occasion,  there  arises  the  point  of  his  personal 
principles  of  loyalty  and  those  of  Nationalists  in  general. 
Queen  Victoria's  last  visit  to  Ireland  and  King 
Edward's  coronation,  both  of  which,  coming  in  close 
proximity  to  the  South  African  War,  afforded  an  excellent 
opportunity  for  an  explicit  pronouncement  on  the  subject, 
ought  to  prove  a  wholesome  corrective  to  those  who 
dabble  in  disloyalty  scares. 

154 


AND  THE  CONSERVATIVES 

Speaking  in  the  House  of  Commons  upon  the 
announcement  of  the  proposed  visit  of  Queen  Victoria 
to  Ireland,  he  said : 

''  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  to  ask  the  indulgence  of  the 
House  for  a  moment  in  order  to  enable  me  to  say  that 
the  Irish  people  will  receive  with  gratification  the 
announcement  that  for  the  future  the  shamrock  shall  be 
worn  by  all  Irish  regiments  on  Ireland's  national 
festival.  The  Irish  people  will  welcome  this  graceful 
recognition  of  the  valour  of  their  race,  whatever  the  field 
upon  which  that  valour  has  latest  been  exhibited — and 
our  people  will,  moreover,  treat  with  respect  the  visit 
which  the  venerable  sovereign  proposes  to  make  their 
shores,  well  knowing  that  on  this  occasion  no  attempt 
will  be  made  to  give  the  visit  a  party  significance,  and 
that  their  chivalrous  hospitality  will  be  taken  in  no 
quarter  to  mean  any  abatement  of  their  demand  for 
their  national  rights,  which  they  will  continue  to  press 
until  they  are  conceded." 

But  though  the  visit  was  officially  pronounced  to  be 
for  a  change  of  air,  many  in  Ireland  thought  it  more 
likely  to  be  the  tour  of  the  recruiting  sergeant  than  the 
recruiting  invalid.  It  was  really  a  diplomatic  stroke  of 
the  most  subtle  kind  ;  for  if  there  was  an  enthusiastic 
welcome  from  the  nation  at  large,  which  would  have 
been  quite  out  of  keeping  with  the  political  situation, 
their   loyalty   would   have   been   taken    for    contentment ; 

155 


JOHN  REDMOND 

while  if  any  scene  occurred  it  would  be  sufficient  to  kill 
Home  Rule.  It  was  therefore  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  the  official  attitude  of  Nationalists  should  be  made 
clear,  more  especially  as  in  some  quarters  expressions 
were  indulged  in  which  were  wanting  in  common  re- 
spect to  a  personage  who,  quite  apart  from  her 
magnificent  qualities  as  a  sovereign,  even  as  a  woman 
has  earned  the  respect  and  love  of  every  civilized  country 
in  the  world. 

The  daily  papers  swarmed  with  letters  of  advice  from 
all  quarters,  but  that  of  the  Rev.  P  Lynch,  of  Man- 
chester, seemed  to  have  seized  the  situation  best  on  the 
whole,  urging  the  party  to  meet  the  spirit  of  friendliness 
which  had  arisen  in  England  with  a  like  spirit,  as  dis- 
loyalty was  always  misinterpreted,  or  as  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  once  said,  "  Hostility  to  the  Crown,  if  it  means 
anything,  means  a  struggle  for  separation  as  soon  as 
Home  Rule  has  given  the  Irish  people  the  power  to  arm." 
"  The  Irish  in  England,"  continued  the  letter,  "  wish  the 
Queen  to  be  received  in  that  broad  and  generous  manner 
hinted  at  by  Mr.  Redmond  in  his  statesmanlike  speech 
in  the  House  of  Commons."  This  statesmanlike  attitude 
was  eventually  the  one  adopted  by  the  official  organ  of 
the  Nationalists, 

"  Yesterday's  reception,"  wrote   the   Freeman's  Jour?ial 
the   day  after  the  Queen's  entry  into  Dublin,  "is  indeed 

a   reply   to   those   who  declare  the  Irish  people  to  be  so 

156 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

deep  rooted  in  resentment  at  the  centuries  of  oppression 
to  which  the  country  has  been  subjected,  that  concih'a- 
tion  is  impossible  even  by  a  tardy  concession  of  justice 
and  liberty.  Ireland  is  eager  even  yet  to  respond  to  any 
offer  of  friendship  based  on  liberty  and  justice." 

A  still  more  explicit  pronouncement  is  to  be  found  in 
the  resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  Harrington  in  Dublin, 
explaining  that  the  loyalty  shown  was  not  to  be 
interpreted  as  a  withdrawal  of  the  national  demand 
or  that  the  disloyalty  had  any  but  a  constitutional 
significance. 

A  short  time  after,  the  subject  was  again  before  the 
public,  when  in  April,  1902,  Mr.  Redmond  moved  the 
adjournment  of  the  House  to  consider  the  state  of 
Ireland,  nine  counties  of  which  were  at  the  time  pro- 
claimed, thus  denying  trial  by  jury  to  over  one  million 
and  a  half,  a  splendid  preparation,  he  said  ironically, 
for  the  Coronation,  when  they  would  find  Ireland,  whose 
good  will  was  of  more  value  to  the  Empire  than  all  the 
Colonies  put  together,  standing  aloof  and  disaffected 
and  only  represented  at  that  ceremonial  by  the  batons 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary.  That  there  was  any 
personal  disloyalty  intended  was  out  of  the  question, 
for,  speaking  in  June,  1902,  he  referred  to  the  King  as, 
in  fact,  rather  popular  personally  in  Ireland,  and  that 
any  disloyalty  was  against  the  Government  of  Lord 
Salisbury   and  its  twenty  years  of  coercion :  and  a  short 

157 


JOHN   REDMOND 

while    before    the     Coronation     every     Irish     Nationalist 
received  the  following  letter : 

"  House  of  Commons, 

"July  31st,   1902. 
"  (To  the  Members  of  the  Irish  party) 
"Dear  Sir, 

"At  the  meeting  of  the  Irish  party  it  was  de- 
cided to  hold  a  meeting  of  the  party  in  the  City 
Hall,  Dublin,  at  12  o'clock  on. Saturday,  August  9th, 
1902,  the  day  of  the  Coronation.  I  trust  you  will 
make  arrangements  to  be  present. 

"Yours  very  truly, 

"  John  E.  Redmond." 

■  The  meeting  accordingly  took  place  on  Coronation 
Day,  and  John  Redmond  explained  the  Nationalist 
position  once  more.  "In  Ireland,  Edward  VII.  was  not 
a  constitutional  monarch,"  said  John  Redmond,  as 
reported  in  The  Times  of  August  nth.  "No  English 
sovereign  had  been  a  constitutional  monarch  of  Ireland 
since  the  Union,  and  that  day  the  Nationalist  repre- 
sentatives of  Ireland  renewed  that  protest,  which  had 
never  been  allowed  to  die  for  a  hundred  years,  against 
the  destruction  of  their  constitution  and  the  usurpation 
of  the  government  of  their  country  by  England.  That 
day,"  he  continued — and  he  ;claimed  to  speak  with 
authority — "  Ireland    and    the    Irish    party    stood  on  this 

158 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

question  precisely  where  Mr.  Parnell  stood  in  1886. 
Ireland  had  always  denied,  and  still  denied,  that  the 
Union  was  binding  legally  and  morally,  and  they  were 
assembled  that  day  to  renew  their  protest  and  place  it 
on  record." 

He  then  moved  the  following  resolution,  which  was 
seconded  by  Mr.  John  Dillon,  supported  by  Mr.  William 
O'Brien  and  others,  and  adopted : 

"  That  inasmuch  as  the  governing  classes  of  England 
have  made  the  Coronation  an  occasion  for  boasting 
before  the  world  of  the  unity  and  solidarity  of  the 
Empire,  we,  the  parliamentary  representatives  of  five- 
sixths  of  the  Irish  people,  whose  native  legislation  has 
been  by  false  and  fraudulent  methods  suppressed,  more 
than  half  of  whose  population  has  been  carried  away  by 
famine  and  emigration,  and  who  are  at  this  moment 
stripped  of  every  constitutional  right,  of  trial  by  jury, 
freedom  of  the  Press,  freedom  of  public  meeting  and  of 
combination,  by  a  system  of  merciless  coercion  in  order 
to  preserve  the  domination  of  an  alien  section  of  the 
population,  deem  it  our  solemn  duty  to  declare  that 
Ireland  separates  herself  from  the  rejoicings  of  her 
merciless  oppressors,  and  stands  apart  in  rightful  dis- 
content and  disaffection." 

But  far  more  serious  than  charges  of  disloyalty  were 
those  brought  forward  by  certain  Conservative  organs  in 
order    to    discredit    Home    Rulers — charges    hardly    less 

159 


JOHN    REDMOND 

serious  than  those  of  The  Times  in  its  famous  letters  on 
Parnellism  and  Crime.  There  had  ahvays  existed  a 
certain  amount  of  personal  antagonism  between  Mr. 
Chamberlain  and  Mr.  Redmond,  and  one  of  the  former's 
biographers,  S.  H.  Freys,  does  not  hesitate  to  attribute 
Mr.  Chamberlain's  change  of  attitude  on  the  Irish 
question  to  Mr.  Redmond's  American  speeches,  extracts 
from  which  in  distorted  fragments  are  scattered 
throughout  Mr.  Chamberlain's  apologies  for  Unionism. 
They  are  based  entirely  on  the  misreading  of  their 
spirit  and  trying  to  identify  "  Independence "  with 
"  Separation,"  and  though  the  Irish  leader  has  often  ex- 
plained the  distinction,  the  misrepresentation  continued. 
But  when  it  came  to  a  charge  of  personal  corruption  it 
was  high  time  that  the  members  of  the  party  should 
vindicate  their  characters. 

The  bitterness  of  the  attack  on  the  party  was  no 
doubt  increased  by  their  support  of  the  Boers  in  the 
South  African  War,  but  it  was  brought  to  a  crisis  by 
the  Globe  newspaper,  which,  it  was  generally  understood, 
merely  put  Mr.  Chamberlain's  insinuations  into  more 
definite  words ;  so  that  though  the  paper  was 
technically  responsible  for  the  libel  of  calling  the  Irish 
members  a  "kept"  party,  the  inspiration  was  really 
Mr.  Chamberlain's. 

The    words    complained    of    were    these — "The    same 

spirit  and  the  same  motives  that  have  made  Tammany  a 

1 60 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

synonym  for  political  oblifjuity  have  made  the  Nationalist 
party  what  it  is  :  many  of  those  connected  with  it  arc 
the  very  ruck  of  the  population,  whose  sole  object  is  a 
pecuniary  one — to  make  as  much  money  by  political 
jobbery  and  corruption  as  they  can.  And  anyone  who 
has  had  any  connection  with  Irish  private  Bills  or  cor- 
poration contract  and  franchises  across  the  water  can 
bear  ample  testimony  to  this." 

John  Redmond  at  once  determined  to  make  this  the 
subject  of  a  question  in  Parliament,  and  accordingly  on 
15th  August  he  brought  the  matter  before  the  Speaker, 
not  so  much  as  an  Irish  grievance  as  because  he  con- 
sidered it,  first,  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  secondly, 
because  it  was  a  matter  that  affected  the  fair  name  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  He  did  not  complain,  he  said, 
of  the  bitterness  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  Blenheim  speech — 
it  was  the  usual  thing  they  expected  ;  but  he  did  draw 
a  line  at  a  charge  of  personal  corruption.  True,  the 
paper  had  disclaimed  any  intention  to  libel  Irish  members, 
saying  it  referred  to  the  American  provincial  supporters  ; 
but  this  was  obviously  in  substance  a  deliberate  falsehood, 
for     the     concluding     paragraph     had     ended    with    the 

words  : 

"  It  is  therefore  no  hardship    upon    Ireland    to    reduce 

the  number  of  parasites  on  her  national  system." 

The     House     agreed     that     there    was     a     breach    of 

privilege    and     Mr.    G.    R.    Armstrong,   the    editor,   and 

161  II 


JOHN  REDMOND 

Mr.  W.  T.  Madge,  the  manager  of  the  Globe,  were 
arrested  until  the  pleasure  of  the  House  should  be 
known,  and  the  next  day  occurred  a  rather  dramatic 
triumph  for  the  Irish  party,  when  the  two  were  called 
before  the  bar  of  the  House  to  apologize.  At  first  the 
apology  was  not  accompanied  by  any  withdrawal,  and 
Mr.  Madge  even  tried  to  hedge  behind  an  "  I  must,  I 
suppose,"  but  the  Speaker  saw  the  significance  of  the 
point  raised  by  John  Redmond,  and  said  sharply, 
"  There  must  be  no  quibbling  over  words.  The 
gentleman  must  not  trifle  with  the  House.  Does  he 
withdraw  categorically  in  the  same  sense  I  have  stated, 
or  decline  ? "  Mr.  Madge  at  once  withdrew  the  charges, 
and  after  hearing  the  censure  of  the  House,  the  two 
ofifenders  were  allowed  to  depart. 

That  it  was  a  moment  of  personal  triumph  for  Mr. 
Redmond  goes  without  saying ;  but  the  incident  is  also 
significant  as  illustrating  the  Irish  leader's  jealous  regard 
both  for  the  House  as  a  body  and  the  honour  of  those 
whose  cause  he  had  at  heart. 

The   South    African   War   took    up   most    of  the   time 

of  Parliament   during  the    first   sessions   after   the   union 

of    the   warring    sections    of    the    Nationalist   party,   so 

that     there     were     practically     no     important     measures 

passed   for   Ireland,   but   in    Ireland    the   consolidation   of 

the   union  was   becoming   evident,   and   the    United    Irish 

League    did    for    John    Redmond    in    September,     1901, 

162 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

what  the  Land  League  had  done  for  Mr.  Parnell. 
John  Redmond  said  "  he  hoped  to  sec  an  agitation 
so  prolonged  that  it  would  abolish  landlordism  root  and 
branch."  As  to  the  means  by  which  that  end  was  to  be 
attained,  he  said  he  "  had  sufficient  faith  in  the  wisdom 
of  the  mass  of  the  members  of  the  United  Irish  League 
to  feel  sure  that  they  would  translate  the  general  declara- 
tion of  policy  into  action,  always  bearing  in  mind  that 
the  movement,  to  be  successful,  should  be  maintained 
well  within  the  laws  of  God  and  man  ;  for  if  they  had 
organization  they  could  do  anything." 

A  few  weeks  later  he  sailed  for  America  to  announce 
the  glad  tidings  of  reunion.  The  Irish  envoys  were 
welcomed  with  almost  unprecedented  enthusiasm  in  the 
United  States,  and  then  went  on  to  Canada,  where  Sir 
Wilfrid  Laurier  and  some  of  the  most  prominent 
Canadians  took  part  in  the  reception  given  to  the  Irish 
leader  and  his  colleagues.  The  incident  did  not  pass 
without  comment,  the  Globe  and  St.  James's  Gazette 
expressing  surprise  that  those  who  had  so  lately  shed 
their  blood  for  the  Empire  should  have  welcomed  its 
bitterest  enemies,  the  Irish  envoys.  But  both  forgot 
to  remind  their  readers  that  the  cause  with  which  these 
Canadians  sympathized  so  publicly  was  identical  with 
the  one  for  which  they  had  themselves  been  about  to 
fight  the  Empire  some  decades  back,  when  luckily  a  far- 
seeing  statesman  had  yielded  to  their  demand. 

163  II* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

The  fruit  of  this  mission  was  seen  a  couple  of  years 
later,  when  in  March,  1903,  the  Canadian  Parliament  by 
a  majority  of  sixty-one  passed  a  resolution  in  favour  of 
Home  Rule,  on  the  motion  of  the  Hon.  John  Costigan, 
and  for  adopting  an  address  to  the  King  on  that  question. 
The  address  had  a  strange  fate  in  the  hands  of  the  great 
Imperialist,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  who  was  then  Colonial 
Secretary.  The  voice  of  the  great  Dominion,  which  had 
been  the  loudest  in  defending  the  Empire,  and  had  for 
that  reason  been  held  up  by  Mr.  Chamberlain  for  the 
edification  of  the  Unionist  electorate,  was  not  listened 
to  when  it  came  to  sympathize  with  a  cause  to  which 
he  was  personally  hostile.  The  Colonial  Secretary  merely 
replied  to  the  Canadians  that  his  Majesty  had  nothing 
to  add  to  the  answer  made  in  1882.  But  though 
resented,  the  action  could  hardly  be  ignored,  and  one 
cannot  get  behind  the  fact  that  the  Colony  most 
resembling  Ireland  in  history,  and  one  which  has  passed 
through  almost  the  same  crisis,  should  have  thus  for  the 
fourth  time  ventured  to  suggest  the  remedy  (having 
already  done  so  in  1882,  1886,  1887)  which  was  tried 
with  such  success  in  its  own  case. 

All  this  while,  though  in  Parliament  little  had  been  done, 

in    Ireland     things     were     going     apace,    preparing     for 

another  period  of  activity.       Mr.  W.  O'Brien's  wonderful 

organizing  powers  had  devised  the  United  Irish  League, 

and  at  a  National  Convention  the  party  was  still  further 

164 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

consolidated.  One  incident,  however — Mr.  Healy's  exclu- 
sion from  the  party — marred  the  unity,  the  resolution 
of  expulsion  being  carried  by  the  Convention  in  distinct 
opposition  to  a  vigorous  speech  by  Mr.  Harrington  and  a 
statement  of  disapproval  from  John  Redmond.  At  the 
same  time  even  amongst  Ulster  Unionists  there  was  a 
general  tendency  towards  the  adoption  of  the  principle 
of  compulsory  purchase  of  land  advocated  by  the  League, 
though  few  were  willing  to  adopt  Mr.  T,  W.  Russell's 
plan,  costing  some  120  millions  and  establishing  an 
Irish  proprietary  on  the  land  without  loss  to  State  or 
landlord. 

The  next  year,  1901,  saw  the  further  spread  of  the 
United  Irish  League  and  the  increase  of  its  power,  and 
though  Mr.  VVyndham  at  first  pooh-poohed  the  idea  of 
its  being  a  revival  of  the  Plan  of  Campaign,  it  had 
grown  sufficiently  strong  by  December  to  get  Mr.  Conor 
O'Kelly,  Mr.  Hayden,  Mr.  John  O'Donnell  and  others  im- 
prisoned upon  charges  of  intimidation.  The  resignation 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  from  the  membership  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  to  which  John  Redmond  had 
called  the  attention  of  the  House,  brought  the  Catholic 
University  question  once  more  prominently  before  the 
public,  with  the  result  that  a  Royal  Commission  was 
appointed  ;  and  though  there  was  still  much  opposition 
in   the   Protestant    quarters,    it    was    generally    felt     that 

some  advance    had    been  made  in  favour  of  the  Catholic 

165 


JOHN   REDMOND 

claims  :  while,  of  course,  the  eternal  Home  Rule  question 
made  up  the  third  of  the  great  problems  of  Land, 
Religion,  Bureaucracy  which  continually  faced  the 
English  legislator.  Agitation  had  once  more  become 
the  order  of  the  day — the  sine  qud  non  of  all  Irish  remedies. 
That  the  agitation  was  a  success  can  be  seen 
from  the  King's  Speech  in  1902,  which  promised  an 
Irish  Land  Bill.  That  Home  Rule  had  once  more  come 
to  life  was  also  evident  from  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman's  action  in  once  more  taking  up  on  behalf  of 
his  party  what  Mr.  Balfour  called  the  damnosa  here- 
ditas  of  the  Liberals.  The  Liberal  leader  even  taunted 
the  Government  with  having  tried  to  kill  Home  Rule  by 
kindness.  "  The  contemplation  of  the  Government,"  he 
said,  "  after  all  that  has  been  tried  and  done,  floundering, 
in  the  old  familiar,  traditional  way,  between  conciliation 
and  coercion,  is  calculated  to  confirm  us  in  the  conviction 
of  the  wisdom  of  that  policy  towards  Ireland  and  Irish 
government  which  has  been  and  is  the  remedy  approved 
by  the  Liberal  party." 

A  lengthy  amendment  to  the  Address  was  put  for- 
ward by  John  Redmond  late  in  January,  condemning 
the  dual  ownership  of  land  and  representing  that 
though  the  Government  admitted  the  grievance,  they 
would  do  nothing  to  remedy  it,  and  justifying  the  action 
of  the    United    Irish    League,  which  had  now  some    two 

thousand     branches.      But    one    of   the    most   significant 

166 


AND    THE   CONSERVATIVES 

speeches    was    Lord    Rosebery's,   who    declared    that    he 
was  distinctly  opposed    to    anything   like  an  independent 
parliament     for     Ireland,    though   he   admitted    that    the 
Castle   government  must  be  reformed,  and  that  the  Irish 
question,  too   large   to   bi   dealt   with  by  any  one  party, 
should   be   settled  by   the   concurrence   and  patriotism  of 
both,  and   further   maintaining   that  the   open  sympathies 
of  the  Irish  with  the  Boers  had   made    Home    Rule   im- 
possible.    "  We   dare   not   allow   a   hostile   parliament   at 
the  very  heart  of  the    Empire.     Such   a  parliament,  had 
it  been  in  existence  during  that  war,  might  have  turned 
the    balance    between    success    and    defeat."      But,  as   Sir 
Henry    Campbell-Bannerman    retorted,   "  An    independent 
parliament   goes    beyond    the    case    and    has    never   been 
demanded  by  any  man   qualified   to   speak   for  the  Irish 
people,  and  has  never  been  expected  or  contemplated  by 
us."     As  for  himself,  he  would  declare  for  the  old  policy, 
which    was    the    sole    remedy    for    the    condition  of  that 
country  which  is  the  most  serious  weakness  in  the  whole 
British  Empire,  the  most  grave  blot  upon  its  fame. 

In  March,  1902,  Mr,  Wyndham  introduced  the 
promised  Land  Bill,  but  it  was  still-born,  being  withdrawn, 
after  its  condemnation  by  the  Nationalist  members,  in 
June,  and  for  a  short  period  there  seemed  an  absolute 
deadlock.  The  Crimes  Act  of  1887  was  again  enforced, 
and    in    view   of   the   general    discontent   in    Ireland     the 

King's   visit   was   postponed.     A   concentration   of  forces 

167 


JOHN   REDMOND 

on  the  part  of  the  landlords  against  the  United  Irish 
League  set  the  two  parties  warring,  and  Lord  De  Freyne 
announced  that  he  would  seek  injunctions  against  John 
Redmond  and  others  for  interference  with  his  tenants, 
the  Unionist  English  Press  meanwhile  calling  loudly  for 
"  law  and  order." 

But  in  the  end  it  was  found,  as  always  happens,  that 
there  was  real  cause  for  agitation,  and  that  the  "land" 
question  had  reached  such  a  critical  stage  that  it  could 
be  no  longer  shelved,  but  must  be  solved,  and  solved  at 
once.  And  it  is  in  no  little  measure  due  to  the  strong 
yet  conciliatory  action  of  the  Irish  leader  that,  if  not 
solved  in  detail,  it  was  solved  at  least  in  principle ;  and 
the  foundation  of  a  quiet  social  reyolution  was  laid 
which,  while  it  reversed  the  policy  of  three  confiscations 
and  re-established  the  people  on  the  soil,  removed  at 
one  stroke  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  Home  Rule 
which  had  any  but  a  sentimental  reality.  This  was 
the  inauguration  of  the  principle  of  State-aided  com- 
pulsory purchase.  On  the  whole  it  was  well  received. 
"  The  reception  accorded  to  the  Irish  policy  of  the 
Government,"  as  the  Annual  Register  pointed  out,  "was 
in  the  main  friendly,  the  prevailing  disposition  among 
politicians  of  all  parties  being  to  hold  that  an  oppor- 
tunity was  presented  for  a  settlement  of  the  principal 
local    economic   difficulty   of   Ireland,   and   that  it   would 

be  wise  not  to  examine  in  any   timid   and   parsimonious 

i68 


AND  THE  CONSERVATIVES 

spirit  the  financial  arrangements  by  which  Ministers  con- 
ceived that  so  great  a  national  end  might  be  secured." 

The  commercial  restrictions  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  had  driven  the  people  from  industry 
to  agriculture,  with  the  result  that  to-day  three  and  a 
half  out  of  the  four  and  a  half  millions  are  dependent 
for  their  livelihood  on  agriculture,  and  there  are  over 
half  a  million  holdings,  and,  as  Mr.  Balfour  once  said, 
the  system  of  land  tenure  contained  almost  every  fault 
which  it  was  possible  to  imagine.  An  attempt  to 
escape  the  Poor  Law  by  reducing  the  number  of 
tenants  on  an  estate  caused  whole  counties  to  be 
converted  into  prairies,  and  in  ten  years  three  hundred 
thousand  families  were  evicted,  a  million  and  a  half  of 
the  population  fled  across  the  Atlantic,  and,  as  Mr.  F.  J. 
McDonnell  points  out,  it  was  only  in  1870,  after  twenty- 
three  Bills  in  favour  of  the  farmers  had  been  rejected 
by  Parliament  in  forty  years,  that  the  tenant  was  able 
to  claim  compensation  for  disturbance  and  a  halfway- 
house  established  in  the  doctrine  of  dual  ownership. 

In  1881    the   three    F's  :    free  sale,  fair  rent,  and  fixity 

of  tenure,    had    advanced    the   problem    this    far,    that    it 

"  included  a  fair  valuation  of  rent,  the  right    of  a  tenant 

to  sell  his  interest  at  the  highest  market  value,  and   the 

security    from    eviction    so    long    as    he    paid    his    rent." 

What    the    Fenians    did    in    getting    compensation     for 

disturbance    the    Land    League    did     under    Parnell    for 

169 


JOHN  REDMOND 

fixity  of  tenure  and  John  Redmond's  policy,  accompanied 
by  the  cattle  driving,  did  in  enlarging  the  principle  of 
purchase  and  thus  establishing  the  people  on  the  soil. 

The     encouragement     of    land     purchase     had      been 
advocated    as    early    as    1847  t)y  Lord  John  Russell  and 
J.  S.  Mill  ;  and  John  Bright,  by  securing  that  tenants  of 
Church  lands  should  have  a  right  of  pre-emption,  estab- 
lished, before  1870,  some  six  thousand  peasant  proprietors 
on    the   land.     In    1870,  by  the  Land    Act    of  that  year, 
about    a    thousand  more  had    been  enabled   to    purchase 
their  holdings  by  the  advance  of  two-thirds  the  purchase 
price.     In  1881  Parnell  got  "the  advance  of  three-quarters 
at  terms  of  five  per  cent,  for  thirty-five  years  ;  while  the 
Ashbourne  Act  of   1885    advanced  the   whole   sum  up  to 
a    total    amount   of  five    millions,    the    necessary    money 
being  found  in  the  Irish  Church  Surplus  Fund.     In  1891 
Mr.     Balfour     proposed     the     allocation     of    thirty-three 
millions  for  the  same  purpose,  and  some  thirty  thousand 
sales    took    place.      Again,    in    1S96,    the    Land    Act    of 
that  year  asserted    the    principle    of  compulsory  purchase 
of  certain    estates    in   bankruptcy,    and    by    the    facilities 
offered,    some    eight    thousand    sales  took  place  in    1898, 
which,    as  the    South  African  War    diminished  the  value 
of    Consols,    dwindled    to   six     thousand     in     1899,    five 
thousand    in    1900    and    only    three    thousand    in     1901. 
Hence    we    may    say    land     purchase    had    come    to    a 

standstill. 

170 


AND  THE  CONSERVATIVES 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  Mr.  Wyndham 
introduced  the  still-born  Land  Bill  of  1902.  It  was  at 
once  declared  insufficient  by  the  National  Convention  of 
June.  Matters  came  to  a  deadlock,  agitation  centring 
chiefly  around  Lord  De  Freyne's  estates.  Everything 
pointed  to  a  crisis.  The  landlords  formed  themselves 
into  an  Irish  Land  Trust :  John  Redmond  grouped  the 
tenants  around  the  United  Irish  League. 

At    this    critical    moment    came  the    Land    Conference 
between    the    representatives    of    tenants    and    landlords. 
At  the  suggestion  of  Captain  Shawe-Taylor,  letters  were 
sent    to    John    Redmond    on    the    one    hand,    the    most 
prominent     landlords     on     the     other.     John     Redmond 
warmly  accepted  the   proposal,   not   so   much   because   it 
showed    a    way    out    of    the    difficulty,     as     because    it 
coincided  with  his  first  principle,  that  none  but  Irishmen 
can  come  to  a  satisfactory  understanding  on  Irish  affairs  ; 
and    that    once   they   are   agreed    upon   the   remedy,    the 
English    Parliament  could  have  no  reason  to  reject  their 
proposal  or  doubt  its  efficiency.     The  Duke  of  Abercorn, 
on  the  contrary,  met  the  proposal  with  a  typical  answer. 
"  It  would  be  merely   to  give    long  discredited  politicians 
a  certificate    of  good    sense    and    of  just  views,  we  might 
almost   say    of   legislative    capacity    to    sit    in    an    Irish 
parliament  in  Dublin,  were  we  to  accept  Captain  Shawe- 
Taylor's  invitation  to  join  them." 

The  spirit  of  conciliation,  however,  prevailed,  and  in  the 

171 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Conference  the  Irish  leader,  though  himself  a  landlord, 
together  with  Mr.  W.  O'Brien  and  Mr.  T.  W.  Russell, 
represented  the  tenants ;  Lord  Dunraven,  Lord  Mayo, 
Colonel  Hutcheson  Poe  and  Colonel  Nugent  Everard 
representing  the  landlords. 

The  Conference  issued  its  report  early  in  1903  and 
advocated  three  great  principles  :  first,  that  purchase  was 
the  only  possible  solution  ;  secondly,  that  in  addition  to 
advances  being  made  to  the  tenant  for  purchase,  the 
Treasury  should  grant  a  bonus  to  encourage  landlords  to 
sell  ;  thirdly,  that  the  large  grazing  lands  should  be 
divided  up  and  the  evicted  tenants — the  wounded 
soldiers  of  the  land  war — should  be  given  hopes  of 
reinstatement. 

It  was  this  Conference,  called  the  "  Treaty  of  Peace," 
which  changed  everything.  "  England  has  now,  for  the 
first  time  since  the  Union,  a  chance  at  a  ridiculously 
small  cost  of  bringing  the  land  war  to  an  end,"  said 
John  Redmond.  Later  the  House  accepted  his  amendment 
to  the  King's  Speech — "  That  it  is  in  the  highest  interests 
of  the  State  that  advantage  should  be  taken  of  the 
unexampled  opportunity  created  by  the  Land  Conference 
agreement  for  putting  an  end  to  agrarian  troubles  and 
conflicts  between  classes  in  Ireland,  by  giving  the  fullest 
and  most  generous  effect  to  the  Land  Conference  report 
on  the  Irish  purchase  proposals  announced  in  the  speech 
from  the  throne." 

172 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

Accordingly  on  March  25th,  1903,  Mr.  Wyndham,  the 
Chief  Secretary,  introduced  his  Irish  Land  Bill,  in  which 
most  of  these  proposals  were  embodied.  The  scene  was 
impressive.  The  Irish  leader  said  he  had  never  risen 
with  such  a  feeling  of  responsibility  and  gratitude. 
The  Chief  Secretary  replied  that  the  Irish  leader's  speech 
was  such  as  no  one  in  his  place  had  made  for  many  a 
decade ;  while  Colonel  Saunderson,  the  leader  of  the 
Ulster  Unionists,  believed  it  was  about  the  only  measure 
for  Ireland  on  which  he  had  found  himself  in  sub- 
stantial agreement  with  the  member  for  Waterford.  But 
throughout  it  was  understood  that  the  fate  of  the  Land 
Bill  would  be  decided  by  the  National  Convention,  which 
had  been  summoned  to  meet  in  Dublin,  John  Redmond 
warning  the  Government  against  the  misrepresentation 
of  that  body  and  pointing  out  that  it  was  really  the 
most  representative  and  democratic  body  in  the  three 
kingdoms. 

On  April  i6th  the  Nationalist  Convention  met;  and 
though  at  the  same  time  declaring  that  self-government 
was  the  greatest  need  of  Ireland,  accepted  the  proposed 
measure  subject  to  certain  amendments  to  be  pressed  in 
committee.  For  the  first  time  these  suggestions  were 
listened  to.  "  Amendments/'  said  the  National  Directorate 
of  the  United  Irish  League  later,  "demanded  by  the 
National  Convention  have  been  conceded  in  committee 
to   an  extent  to  which    no  great  Government  measure  in 

173 


JOHN   REDMOND 

relation  to  Ireland  has  ever  before  been  modified  in 
deference  to  the  demands  of  Irish  public  opinion " — 
and  as  Mr.  John  Redmond  declared,  it  was  "the  most 
substantial  victory  gained  for  centuries  by  the  Irish 
race  for  the  reconquest  of  the  soil  of  Ireland  by  the 
people." 

The  effect  of  the  Bill  was  immediate,  but  not  com- 
plete. "  All  that  is  good  in  the  Act  of  1903,"  said 
the  Irish  leader  five  years  later,  "  came  from  the  ex- 
pression of  Irish  public  opinion  at  the  Land  Conference. 
All  that  is  bad  in  the  Act,  all  that  is  preventing  the 
Act  working  successfully,  was  put  in  the  Act  in  oppo- 
sition to  Irish  public  opinion,  and  in  defiance  of  the 
opinion  expressed  by  the  representatives  of  the  Irish 
people."  Still  even  this  cannot  blind  one  to  the  vastness 
of  the  measure  by  which,  as  Lord  Dunraven  puts  it, 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  (228,938)  occupying  tenants 
were  able  to  buy  their  holdings  and  seventy-seven 
millions  worth  of  property  changed  hands  "  on  terms 
recommended  as  fair  by  representatives  of  tenants  and 
landlords  at  the  Land  Conference,  accepted  as  fair  by 
the  whole  Irish  people  through  their  representatives  in 
Parliament,  their  National  Convention,  their  local  bodies, 
and  by  every  means  through  which  the  opinion  of  a 
community  can  be  made  articulate,  and  endorsed  as  fair 
by  all  parties  in  both  branches  of  the   Imperial   legisla- 


ture." 


174 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

What  is  chiefly  significant,  as  far  as  John  Redmond 
is  concerned,  was  the  endorsing  of  his  first  principle  of 
action,  that  only  in  Ireland  and  by  Irishmen  can  the 
Irish  problem  be  solved.  He  himself  was  full  of  the 
spirit  of  conciliation,  and  he  pointed,  not  without  justice, 
to  the  Conference  as  one  of  the  greatest  refutations  of 
the  indictment  of  bigotry  and  incapacity  hurled  against 
Irishmen.  At  the  same  time  there  was  no  doubt  that 
it  was  the  strength  of  the  League  which  had  given 
him  his  power ;  and  the  same  power  he  now  used  to 
urge  the  settlement  of  the  legislative  and  educational 
questions. 

The  spirit  of  conciliation  inaugurated  by  the  Land 
Conference  and  brought  to  such  a  successful  issue  in  the 
Land  Act,  1903,  might  have  been  the  beginning  of  a 
new  dawn  in  Irish  affairs.  For  the  time  the  air  was 
filled  with  schemes  and  conferences  ;  the  attitude  of  the 
Irish  leader  and  the  Irish  Chief  Secretary  was  de- 
scribed as  continually  "  throwing  kisses  to  each  other 
across  the  floor  of  the  House."  In  January,  Lord  Dun- 
raven,  the  moving  spirit  of  the  entente,  published  a  long 
letter  in  the  Dublin  papers  on  the  education  question. 
He  mapped  out  a  scheme  for  a  great  federal  University 
of  Dublin  which,  besides  Trinity  College,  should  consist 
of  Queen's  College,  Belfast,  and  a  new  King's  College 
to  be  established  in  the  Irish  capital.  It  was,  upon  the 
whole,   favourably   received  by   such   prominent   Catholic 

175 


JOHN   REDMOND 

laymen  as  Lords  Fingall,  Kenmare,  Chief  Baron  Palles, 
The  MacDermot,  K.C.,  and  others,  but  the  bishops 
were  divided  upon  the  point,  and  though  Protestants,  Hke 
Colonel  Saunderson,  were  loud  in  their  protests  against 
the  supposed  clerical  domination  that  would  ensue,  the 
Provost  and  Senior  Fellows  of  Trinity  College  offered 
to  erect  a  Catholic  chapel  for  Catholic  students. 

The  failure  of  the  Government,  however,  to  proceed 
with  the  matter  was  the  first  warning  note  of  an 
abandonment  of  the  spirit  of  conciliation.  As  early  as 
January  22nd,  1904,  Lord  Londonderry  disclaimed  any 
intention  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  introduce 
such  a  Bill,  and  later,  when  Mr.  Clancy  brought  up  the 
same  question,  Mr.  Wyndham  said  that,  though  he  was 
personally  in  sympathy  with  the  measure  of  a  Roman 
Catholic  University  without  tests,  he  refused  to  pledge 
the  Government.  Indeed,  it  was  generally  thought  to 
press  the  question  might  have  split  the  Cabinet.  As 
John  Redmond  put  it  in  1907,  the  scheme  was  not  a 
scheme  that  many  of  the  Catholics  would  have  liked 
if  they  had  a  choice ;  but  when  it  was  put  before 
them  as  a  practical  scheme,  they,  after  consultation, 
priests,  bishops,  laity,  said — "  Very  well,  we  will  give 
up  our  personal  predilections,  because  we  see  the  sub- 
stance of  equality  in  the  scheme,  and  we  accept  it." 

The    refusal    was    a    great    mistake :      for    advantage 

might    have    been    taken    of    the    proposals    made    by 

176 


AND   THE  CONSERVATIVES 

the  same  liberal-minded  Irishmen  who  had  already 
solved  the  land  question,  and  effected  a  wholesome 
rapprochement  in  public  life.  But  it  was  not  the  acts  or 
even  the  omissions  of  the  Government  leaders  which 
told  against  the  Conservatives  so  much  as  the  spirit 
which  began  to  actuate  them — for  the  suggestions  indi- 
cated tendencies  of  mind  rather  than  actual  measures. 
It  was  the  gradual  submission  to  the  old  spirit  of  Ulster 
opposition  and  the  sacrificing  of  the  new  conciliatory 
spirit  in  Ireland  which  became  every  day  more  clear, 
and  though  no  one  could  call  John  Redmond  a  "devo- 
lutionist, "  he  was  undoubtedly  in  sympathy  with  a 
movement  which  was  identical  in  ultimate  aim,  or  at 
least  in  principle,  with  his  own,  and  which  he  looked 
upon  as  inaugurating  a  new  era  of  thought  among  Irish 
Unionists. 

The  University  blunder  was  only  the  prelude  to 
another  and  more  serious  mistake,  when  the  Govern- 
ment's hands  were  forced  into  a  policy  of  hostility  to 
the  reform  of  the  bureaucracy  advocated  by  such  men 
as  Lord  Dunraven  and  Lord  (then  Sir  Antony) 
MacDonnell. 

Lord     Dunraven's     scheme     of     devolution      was     the 

establishment   of  a    Financial    Council,    which    had    been 

suggested    by    the  Irish    Reform    Association,  into    which 

the  Land  Conference  had  resolved  itself.     This  Financial 

Council     was     to     have     had     control     of    purely    Irish 

177  12 


JOHN  REDMOND 

expenditure  subject  to  a  power  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  a  control  over  Irish  private  Bill  legislation  being 
handed  over  to  a  special  assembly  of  Irish  representative 
peers  and  members  of  Parliament.  It  was  supported  by- 
such  men  as  Lord  Rossmore,  Lord  Southwell,  Sir  A. 
Coote,  Sir  A.  Weldon,  Col.  Hutcheson  Poe,  Mr.  L.  and 
Mr.  D.  Talbot-Crosbie,  Captain  Shawe-Taylor,  and  for  a 
period  it  seemed  as  if  some  arrangement  could  have  been 
made  with  the  Irish  party,  many  of  whom  welcomed 
the  new  movement.  In  fact,  the  chief  plank  in  its  plat- 
form was  identical  with  that  in  the  Nationalist  platform 
as  far  as  the  reform  of  the  system  of  civil  administra- 
tion of  Ireland  was  concerned  ;  and  whole  passages  from 
Mr.  Redmond's  speeches  could  be  substituted  for  whole 
paragraphs  of  Lord  Dunraven's  "  Outlook  in  Ireland," 
in  which  he  denounces  both  the  extravagance  and  the 
irresponsibility  of  the  sixty-seven  departments  that  cost 
over  three  millions  a  year  to  keep  up  an  army  of 
100,000  officials,  who  receive  in  pay  just  half  the  amount 
spent   on   the  government  of  the  country. 

This  administrative  Home  Rule,  or  Devolution,  as  it 
was  called,  became  the  main  thread  in  the  tangled  skein 
of  Irish  politics.  The  appointment  as  permanent  Under 
Secretary  of  Sir  Antony  MacDonnell,  an  Irishman,  a 
Catholic  and  a  Home  Ruler,  embittered  the  struggle,  and 
the  Government    became    the    object    of   the    most    rabid 

attacks  from    the    ultra-Unionists.      Early   in    1905    John 

178 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

Redmond  continually  urged  the  Ministers  not  to  surrender 
to  prejudices  of  the  minority  in  Ireland,  many  still 
hoping  that  some  understanding  might  be  come  to.  It 
was  in  vain  he  urged  the  necessity  for  a  University  :  it 
was  in  vain  that  he  urged  the  extension  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  compulsory  purchase  to  untenanted  lands,  or 
pointed  to  a  sudden  stop  in  the  working  of  the  Land 
Act. 

The  whole  controversy  raged  round  Sir  Antony 
MacDonnell,  Sir  Edward  Carson  thinking  it  nothing  less 
than  a  public  scandal  "  that  Sir  Antony  MacDonnell,  a 
permanent  civil  servant  under  the  Unionist  Government, 
should  still  be  retained  in  a  position  such  as  he  occupied 
after  having  evolved  a  scheme  which  both  the  Prime 
Minister  and  the  Chief  Secretary  had  disavowed."  Sir 
Antony,  however,  was  eloquently  defended  by  Lord  Lans- 
downe,  who  said  of  the  government  of  Ireland,  "  Any- 
body who  has  studied  that  question  is  aware  that  there  is 
room  for  considerable  improvement  in  the  old-fashioned 
and  complicated  organization.  In  these  circumstances,  it 
follows  that  Sir  A.  MacDonnell  was  justified  in  assuming 
that  he  had  certain  scope  of  action :  and  he  certainly 
acted  upon  that  assumption — acted  upon  it  with  the  know- 
ledge and  approval  of  the  Chief  Secretary.  It  was  with 
the  Chief  Secretary's  approval  that  Sir  A.  MacDonnell 
made  himself  accessible   to    persons,  of  many   kinds  and 

descriptions,    whose    ideas    were    worth    collecting    upon 

179  12* 


JOHN  REDMOND 

important  subjects,  and  I  maintain  that  in  endeavouring 
to  break  down  the  barrier  which  has  too  long  and  too 
often  divided  DubHn  Castle  from  the  rest  of  the  country, 
my  right  honourable  colleague  has  taken  a  step  in  the 
right  direction  and  one  for  which  he  deserves  the 
greatest  possible  praise." 

This  granted  the  point  always  urged  by  John  Red- 
mond and  justified  the  attitude  which  he  took  up  later 
in  an  amendment  to  the  Address,  when  he  pointed  to  the 
general  dissatisfaction  in  Ireland,  among  all  classes  and 
creeds,  with  the  system  of  Castle  government,  especially 
as  no  one  who  was  in  any  way  in  sympathy  with  the 
people  was  ever  allowed  to  take  part  long  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  country ;  and  they  were  really  ruled 
by  permanent  semi-independent  boards  stuffed  full  with 
members  of  the  ascendancy  party.  For  weeks  the 
"letters"  that  had  passed  between  Sir  Antony  MacDonnell 
and  the  Chief  Secretary  were  discussed,  and  in  the 
end  Mr.  Wyndham  resigned  and  in  his  place  was 
appointed    Mr.     Walter     Long.  The    spirit     of    con- 

ciliation had  been  once  more  wrecked  by  the  spirit  of 
coercion  and  the  ending  of  the  Government's  reign  became 
but  a  matter  of  time.  An  attempt  to  cut  down  the  Irish 
representation  was  a  failure,  and  a  few  weeks  later  Mr. 
Balfour  was  defeated  upon  the  administration  of  the 
Land  Purchase  Act  of  1903. 

The  refusal  of  the  Prime  Minister,    however,    to   resign 

180 


AND   THE   CONSERVATIVES 

upon  a  question  of  such  magnitude,  raised  a  constitu- 
tional point  of  the  first  importance,  and  for  a  time  it 
became  a  matter  of  personal  contest  between  John  Red- 
mond and  Mr.  Balfour. 

"  I  say  that  the  continuance  in  office  of  the  present 
Government  is  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  the  constitu- 
tion," said  the  Irish  leader.  "  For  my  part,  I  believe  it 
is  the  duty  of  all  who  value  that  constitution  to  use 
every  effective  means  they  may  have  to  drive  the  right 
honourable  gentleman  from  the  position  he  now 
occupies.  In  so  far  as  my  colleagues  are  concerned,  we 
will  give  and  take  no  quarter,  and  I  believe  if  the  same 
spirit  animated  the  Opposition  as  a  whole,  they  would 
soon  make  short  work  of  that  Government  of  shreds 
and  patches." 

This  constitutional  point  was  admitted  on  all  sides,  and 
the  parliamentary  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Chronicle 
maintained  that  the  reputation  of  the  Irish  leader  had 
never  been  higher  than  in  the  vigorous  and  effective  use 
of  an  oratory  which  went  to  the  heart  of  the  situation  ; 
while  even  the  Conservative  Press  seemed  to  admit  the 
weakness  of  Balfour's  position  by  leaving  him  undefended 
on  the  main  point  and  pleading  his  retention  on  the 
ground  of  the  critical  situation  of  foreign  affairs. 

But  it   was  more   than   a    mere   parliamentary   defeat : 

as    Mr.    Dillon    observed    at    a    banquet    given    in    the 

Leader's  honour  in  July,  "  it  was  the  discrediting  of  that 

i8i 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Parliamentary  leader  who  for  twenty  years  had  been  the 
heart  and  brain  of  the  Unionist  party  in  their  struggle 
against  Home  Rule,"  and  a  greater  testimony  had  never 
been  offered  to  the  power  of  the  Irish  party  than  the 
policy  of  redistribution,  by  which  some  dozen  Irish 
members  would  lose  their  seats,  and  which  he  looked 
upon  as  the  cry  of  despair  of  the  English  Parliament. 
John  Redmond,  however,  emphasized  chiefly  the  means 
by  which  that  victory  had  been  brought  about.  It  was 
entirely  a  matter  of  organization,  he  maintained.  It  was 
because  the  party  had  been  one,  representative  and 
organized,  and  that  it  represented  the  electorate  and  the 
directory  of  the  United  Irish  League.  It  was  due  also  to 
the  fact  that  that  party  was  pledge-bound  and  that  all 
its  differences  were  discussed  inside  the  ranks  of  the 
party,  so  that  once  a  decision  had  been  arrived  at,  they 
stuck  to  it  ;  for,  as  he  is  never  tired  of  warning  the 
country,  without  unity  the  national  forces  are  absolutely 
useless. 

One,  therefore,  of  the  three  great  difficulties  was  on 
the  road  to  solution,  the  land  question.  There  still 
remained  two,  the  educational  or  Catholic  University 
question  and  the  Home  Rule  or  bureaucratic  question, 
both  of  which  were  left  to  the  Liberal  Government  to 
deal  with. 


182 


CHAPTER  VIII 

REDMOND   AND   THE    LIBERALS 
1905-1910 

I. — THE   EDUCATION    BILLS   AND   THE   CATHOLIC 

UNIVERSITY 

■pROM  the  moment  of  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Balfour  to  the 
return  of  the  great  English  democratic  party  after 
an  exile  of  twenty  years,  John  Redmond's  policy  was 
to  show  the  electorate  of  both  countries  that  the  reform 
of  bureaucracy  was  the  real  Irish  grievance  and  that 
the  Home  Rule  question  was  once  more  the  great  issue 
in  practical  politics.  Speaking  in  April,  1905,  he  had 
pointed  out  how  unconstitutional  was  the  government 
of  Ireland  (so  mischievous,  indeed,  as  to  justify  separa- 
tion), but  that  at  the  same  time  he  was  profoundly  con- 
vinced that  a  compromise  could  be  arrived  at  within 
the  constitution — in  all  essentials  on  the  lines  proposed 
in   t886  and   1893. 

This  had  been,  of  course,  the  whole-hearted  and 
generous  Liberal  programme  for  which  the  party  had 
suffered  twenty  years  of  exile  ;  but  in  that  time  there 
had    arisen    moderate    or    half    Liberals.     To    these    he 

183 


JOHN   REDMOND 

addressed  himself  in  his  speech  of  November  loth  at 
Glasgow,  "  Some  Liberals,"  he  said,  "  thought  the  situa- 
tion could  be  adequately  dealt  with  by  administrative 
Home  Rule,  or,  as  others  called  it,  devolution — a  policy 
which  would  consist  in  dismissing  some  of  the  Orange- 
men in  Dublin  Castle  and  putting  Nationalists  in  their 
places,  transferring  to  an  Irish  tribunal  in  Dublin  the 
management  of  Irish  private  bills  and  objects  of  that 
sort.  He  wished  to  say  to  the  statesmen  who  put 
forward  these  views  that  this  would  afford  absolutely  no 
remedy  for  the  state  of  grievances  admitted.  He 
warned  the  Liberal  party,  with  all  respect,  to  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  those  who  were  inclined  to  tempt  them  away 
from  the  straight  path  into  the  devious,  crooked  and 
unsafe  path  of  repudiation  of  ancient  pledges  and  the 
proposal  of  ridiculous  and  unmeaning  policies  such  as 
these." 

The  words  appear  somewhat  strong,  perhaps,  to  us  of 
the  new  generation  :  they  were  mild  indeed  for  one  who 
had  been  dissatisfied  with  Gladstone  on  the  question  of 
a  final  settlement.  His  position  was  well  defined  in  one 
of  the  Freeman  cartoons,  in  which  the  reluctant  John 
Bull  is  asking  Pat  Redmond  how  the  debt  should  be 
paid.  "  It's  an  old  debt — long  overdue,  and  should  there- 
fore be  paid  at  once,  not  in  instalments,"  is  Redmond's 
reply. 

Mill's  cartoon  was  not  without  point,  for  Mr.  Haldane 

184 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

thought  the  best  policy  would  be  the  placing  of 
responsibility  where  power  really  lay,  thus  leaving  the 
people  of  Ireland  free  to  educate  themselves  in  the 
administration  of  their  own  affairs,  while  Mr.  Asquith 
hesitated,  from  the  conviction  forced  upon  anyone 
acquainted  with  politics,  that  nothing  but  a  distinct, 
definite  and  irresistible  movement  of  opinion  in  England 
could  carry  through  Parliament  such  a  motion,  and  he 
was  rather  inclined  to  wait,  like  Rosebery,  till  the  clouds 
of  prejudice  passed  by. 

The  leaders  of  Liberal  opinion,  however,  were  for  the 
most  part  true  to  their  history.  Lord — then  Mr. — Morley, 
for  example,  speaking  at  Forfar  on  October  20th,  1905, 
said  : — "  Last  Session  the  whole  Liberal  party  in  the 
House  of  Commons  voted  in  favour  of  Mr.  Redmond's 
amendment,  which  stated  that  the  present  government 
in  Ireland  was  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  Irish 
people,  gave  them  no  voice  in  the  management  of  their 
affairs,  was  extravagantly  costly,  did  not  enjoy  the  con- 
fidence of  any  section  of  the  population,  was  productive 
of  universal  discontent  and  unrest,  and  had  been  proved 
to  be  incapable  of  satisfactorily  promoting  the  material 
and  intellectual  progress  of  the  people.  Surely,  then,  it 
was  incredible  that  a  party  which  supported  an  indict- 
ment so  damning  should  have  no  policy  for  dealing 
with  such  a  state  of  affairs.  I  defy  the  wit  of  man  to 
give    to    Ireland,    to    Irishmen,  any    effective    control    or 

185 


JOHN   REDMOND 

voice  in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs,  whether 
in  respect  to  saving  money  or  anything  else,  unless  there 
is  an  executive  responsible  to  a  body  in  which  the 
elective  element  shall  » have  the  decisive  voice,  whether 
that  body  sits  on  College  Green  or  elsewhere."  The 
following  questions  were  put  to  Mr.  Morley  at  the 
meeting,  and  he  returned  to  them  the  answers  that 
follow: — "Are  you  a  Home  Ruler?  I  answer:  If 
you  mean  the  creation  by  Parliament  of  the  local  legis- 
lature under  the  paramount  authority  of  the  Imperial 
parliament,  yes,  I  am.  Is  that  what  you  understand  to 
be  the  spirit  of  Gladstonian  policy  ?  I  say  that  I  can 
imagine  no  other  intelligible  interpretation  or  application 
of  that  spirit." 

There  was  a  Gladstonian  ring  also  in  the  Prime 
Minister's  (Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman)  declarations. 
In  fact,  he  seemed  quite  as  determined  as  John  Red- 
mond that  the  Irish  problem,  which  had  occupied  Parlia- 
ment year  in  and  year  out  since  the  days  of  Grattan, 
should  be  solved — but  he  doubted  whether,  reviewing 
the  history  of  the  century,  it  would  ever  be  solved  at 
Westminster.  Even  good  government,  he  maintained, 
was  no  substitute  for  self-government,  and  he  made  it 
clear  that  self-government  would  be  the  aim  of  the 
Liberal  party.  He  did  not  quite  pledge  himself  to  an 
immediate   introduction  of  a  Home   Rule  Bill ;    but    that 

this  was  the  end  in   view   was    evident   from  his  election 

i86 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

speeches.  "  I  trust,"  he  stated,  "  that  the  opportunity  of 
making  a  great  advance  on  this  question  of  Irish 
government  will  not  be  long  delayed  and  when  that 
opportunity  comes,  my  firm  belief  is  that  a  greater 
measure  of  agreement  than  hitherto  as  to  the  ultimate 
solution  will  be  found  possible,  and  that  a  keener 
appreciation  will  be  felt  of  the  benefits  that  will  flow  to 
the  Imperial  communities  and  British  people  throughout 
the  world,  and  that  Ireland,  from  being  disaffected,  im- 
poverished and  discouraged,  will  take  its  place  a  strong 
and   harmonious   and   contented  portion  of  the  Empire." 

It  seemed  therefore  that  John  Redmond  had  at  last 
aroused  the  attention  of  the  dull  but  not  really  un- 
generous sense  of  fair  play  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of 
the  British  conscience — a  conscience  which  in  Irish 
affairs  suffers  more  from  ignorance,  apathy  and  certain 
touches  of  occasional  panic  than  from  any  conscious 
hostility  of  spirit.  Twenty  years  of  resolute  government 
had  cost  a  seventh  of  the  population,  the  spirit  of 
coercion  was  dead,  the  decks  were  cleared  for  action, 
and  all  pointed  to  a  confirmation  of  the  Irish  leader's 
motion  in  the  previous  February. 

The  Irish  vote,  in  view  of  these  pledges  and  senti- 
ments, was  accordingly  given  to  the  Liberal  candidates 
and  not  a  little  conduced  to  the  overwhelming  majority 
with  which  they  were  returned  in  1906. 

The   first   great   measure,   however,   upon   the   meeting 

187 


JOHN   REDMOND 

of  Parliament  which  claimed  the  attention  of  the  Irish 
leader  was  not  an  Irish  question,  save  in  the  sense  that 
it  affected  the  Catholics  of  England,  who  are  for  the 
most  part  made  up  of  Irish  emigrants.  It  is  more  a 
matter  of  ecclesiastical  history  than  of  personal  bio- 
graphy, and  though  it  would  be  too  complicated  to 
enter  into  the  many  Education  Bills  which  have  called 
forth  his  criticism,  there  are  certain  general  principles 
characterizing  his  actions  throughout  without  noting 
which  no  estimate  of  the  man  would  be  complete. 

In  1902,  in  1906,  in  1908,  his  attitude  was  the  same: 
officially,  that  of  the  lay  politician  ;  that  of  the  ardent 
Catholic  personally,  for  John  Redmond  believes,  like  Sir 
Wilfrid  Laurier,  in  an  extension  of  denominational 
developments  as  the  best  safeguard  against  an  infringe- 
ment of  parental  control.  He  is  a  Home  Ruler  even 
here ;  in  the  sense  that  he  believes  the  "  Home "  has 
the  only  claim  to  rule.  But  at  the  same  time  he  will 
not  allow  the  wrecking  of  broad  political  aims  by 
sectarian  side  issues,  and  over  and  over  again  has  he 
protested  against  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  Tory 
Catholics  to  make  use  of  the  Irish  party  as  a  political 
catspaw,  and  stoutly  defended  a  policy  of  political  in- 
dependence of  all   religious  creeds. 

"  I    say    the     National     movement    is   not   a    Catholic 

movement,"   he   said    on   one   occasion.      "  It    is    not    in 

conflict  with  the  interests  of  the  Catholic   religion  ;    God 

188 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

forbid ! — tliat  is  the  religion  of  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  our  people.  But  the  National  movement  is 
a  movement  embracing  within  its  fold  men  of  all  re- 
ligions, and  those  who  seek  to  turn  the  Nationalist 
movement  into  a  Catholic  movement  would  be  repudi- 
ating some  of  the  brightest  pages  of  our  national  his- 
tory and  forgetting  the  memory  of  some  of  the  greatest 
of  our  national  heroes  who  professed  the  newer  and 
the  older  creed  of  our  country." 

I  can  conceive  of  no  finer  declaration  from  a  politician, 
nor  one  more  calculated  to  inspire  respect  and  confi- 
dence in  the  event  of  an  Irish  parliament,  composed  of 
Catholics,  being  entrusted  with  power  over  Protestants. 
At  the  same  time,  as  he  reminded  his  hearers  at  the 
Coliseum  in  June,  1908,  Catholics  have  lost  nothing 
in  thus  trusting  to  a  national  instead  of  a  Catholic 
party.  The  Catholic  schools  of  England  were  really  the 
creation  of  the  Nationalist  parties  of  the  past,  and  in 
that  party  they  would  find,  he  assured  them,  their  best 
shield  and  bulwark  ;  only  they  must  allow  that  party  at 
least  political  discretion  upon  questions  of  ways  and 
means.  How  necessary  this  last  phrase  is  anyone 
familiar  with  educational  controversies  will  at  once 
realize,  for  there  were  some  Catholic  organs  which  did 
not  scruple  to  assert  that  they  could  not  distinguish 
between  the  spirit  of  Henry  VHI.  and  that  of  the  Irish 

leader,    while    one    worthy    prelate    compared    him    to   a 

189 


JOHN   REDMOND 

second  Clemenceau  ;  and  this  at  a  time  when  almost 
every  action  of  his  was  taken  with  full  approbation  and 
knowledge  of  the  English  ecclesiastical  authorities.  The 
clashes,  indeed,  that  occurred,  such  as  that  at  Manchester, 
when  the  United  Irish  League  and  the  clergy  came  into 
conflict,  is  another  example  of  the  same  spirit,  the  best 
answer  to  which  is  contained  in  Mr.  Dillon's  remark, 
that,  once  it  is  allowed  that  the  question  is  one  of 
policy  and  of  tactics,  he  was  ready  to  maintain  that 
the  trained  politicians  of  the  League  and  of  the  Irish 
party  are  much  more  likely  to  be  good  judges  of 
political  tactics  than  any  ecclesiastic  in  the  land. 

John  Dillon's  Catholicism  few  would  impeach,  for  none 
worked  harder  than  the  Irish  party  for  that  cause,  and 
none  in  that  party  harder  than  Dillon.  But  as  John 
Redmond  and  many  of  the  Irish  party  foresaw,  the 
opportunity  had  been  lost  in  1902,  when  separate  treat- 
ment could  easily  have  been  secured  by  meeting  the 
Nonconformist  grievances  in  a  generous  spirit.  The 
politicians'  hands  were  forced  by  the  theologians,  but 
their  political  instincts  proved  right  in  the  end.  Cardinal 
Vaughan,  however,  was  not  unmindful  of  the  Irish 
labours,  and  it  is  a  pleasing  trait  of  the  Tory  prelate 
to  find  him  trying — in  return  for  the  Nationalist  help 
— to  start  a  movement  in  England  to  get  them  a  national 
university. 

That   the   charge   of  betraying  the   schools  which   was 

190 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

levelled  against  the  party  was  unfounded  needed,  however, 
an  official  denial  in  the  heated  controversy  of  1906,  and 
the  Irish  leader  accordingly  received  the  following  letter 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Westminster : 

"  Dear  Mr.  Redmond, 

"  Now  that  our  long  struggle  for  educational 
equality  is  momentarily  at  an  end,  it  is  due  to  you 
that  I  should  again  thank  you  and  your  colleagues 
for  the  efforts  that  you  have  made  to  rescue  our 
Schools  in  England  and  Wales  from  the  jeopardy  in 
which  the  proposals  of  the  Government  had  placed 
them.  Knowing  as  I  do  the  negotiations  which 
have  taken  place,  I  am  satisfied  that  you  have  done 
your  best  to  deal  with  a  very  delicate  and  critical 
situation. 

"  With      every     good    wish    for     Xmas    and    the 
coming  year, 

"  Believe  me,  yours  very  sincerely, 

"  1906.  Francis,  Abp.  of  Westminster." 

This  position  of  independence  was  again  visible  in 
1908,  when  again  the  Irish  leader  was  indefatigable  in 
his  efforts  on  behalf  of  the  Catholic  schools,  and  here 
not  without  success,  for  he  obtained  almost  all  the 
concessions  necessary  to  preserve  the  religious  atmo- 
sphere.    But   he   was   bitterly   opposed     to   the    Catholic 

191 


JOHN  REDMOND 

deputation  to  the  House  of  Lords  for  the  rejection  of 
the  Bill,  not  so  much  because  he  himself  was  in  favour 
of  the  Bill  in  all  its  details,  but  because,  as  he  reminded 
the  House,  he  believed  it  was  contrary  to  the  best  policy 
in  the  long  run,  namely,  that  he  preferred  to  trust  the 
Catholic  schools  to  the  broad-minded  generosity  of 
English  democracy  than  to  establish  them  with  the  help 
of  such  a  reactionary  body  as  the  House  of  Lords, 
whom  it  would  only  strengthen  for  the  great  consti- 
tutional struggle  of  which  he  looked  upon  the  rejection 
of  the  Education  Bill  as  the  first  blow. 

It  was  a  long-sighted  policy,  but  this  was  very 
characteristic  of  the  Irish  leader,  and  sheds  a  great 
light,  not  only  upon  his  statesmanship,  but  also  upon  his 
mental  attitude  towards  Catholicism.  His  name  will  be 
coupled,  and  deservedly  so,  with  those  of  Windthorst  and 
Montalembert,  but  it  will  not  be  in  the  same  way. 
They  were  political  Catholics  ;  he  is  a  Catholic  politician. 
With  him  the  statesman  prevails  over  the  personal 
believer ;  not  that  he  places  religion  below  politics  so 
much  as  that  he  recognizes  a  sort  of  religion  in  true 
politics  such  as  establish  a  Roman  equality  of  treatment 
with  a  consequent  atmosphere  of  mutual  respect,  in  which 
every  creed  will  flourish  according  to  the  value  of  its 
own  intrinsic  merits.  And  in  this  he  resembles  another 
great  Catholic  statesman  of  the  Empire,  and  a   personal 

friend.  Sir  Wilfrid    Laurier,  the    Canadian    Premier,  who 

192 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

has  had  himself  to  deal  with  almost    the   same    problem 
and  solved  it  in  exactly  the  same  way. 

Thus  when,  in  1905,  a  bigoted  outcry  was  raised 
against  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  for  proposing  legislation 
which  would  allow  Catholic  denominational  schools  to 
be  established  in  two  of  the  western  provinces,  pretend- 
ing that  this  was  abandoning  Canada  to  the  Roman 
Catholics,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  merely  extending 
a  principle  in  force  for  some  thirty  years,  and  one  upon 
which  the  whole  religious  difficulty  had  been  solved  to 
the  satisfaction  of  both  parties.  But  the  prejudice  raised 
in  England  was  so  great  that  Mr.  George  T.  Fulford, 
one  of  the  Dominion  Senators,  thus  wrote  to  the  Daily 
Chronicle  upon  the  charge  of  clericalism  : 

"  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  was  the  first  great  Canadian 
Catholic  who  took  exception  to  the  interference  of  the 
hierarchy  in  the  Dominion  politics.  He  carried  his  case 
to  Rome  and  secured  a  prominciamento  from  the  late 
Pope  practically  debarring  the  Roman  hierarchy  from 
taking  part  in  Canadian  politics.  The  charge  made 
now  of  being  a  tool  of  the  hierarchy  is  not  only 
singularly  unjust,  but  can  only  be  made  by  one  who 
has  some  other  motive  in  view  than  that  of  presenting  a 
true  aspect  of  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier's  life  and  character." 

The  action  is  significant  because  of  the  similarity  of 
the  two  men  Redmond  and  Laurier  and  the  identity 
of  their  creeds,  both  religious  and  political.     Both  are  in 

^93  13 


JOHN   REDMOND 

a  sense  Home  Rulers  and  Rome  Rulers — but  they  are 
examples  of  that  virile  lay  spirit  which,  if  rare,  has 
distinguished  even  the  most  religious,  and  is  certainly 
worth  noting  by  those  who  seek  to  make  out  that  a 
Catholic  Minister  must  be  under  the  thumb  of  the  priest, 
and  that  a  Nationalist  Premier  cannot  be  an  Imperialist 
as  well.  Like  O'Connell,  their  motto  is,  We  will  take  our 
religion  from  Rome,  but  not  our  politics.  But  it  is  often 
forgotten  that  it  is  Rome's  motto  also,  as  indeed  was 
shown  by  the  interview  which  Pius  X.  gave  to  the  Irish 
leader  in  1905,  and  which  was  so  resented  by  Tories 
and  so  acclaimed  by  Nationalists. 

John  Redmond's  own  account  of  the  Holy  Father's 
interview  was  thus  described  to  Mr.  Stead  : 

'*  I  was  ushered    into  his  presence,"  he    said,  "  through 

stately  corridors  and  splendid   antechambers,  escorted    by 

Papal  guards  and  chamberlains.     But  all    the    pomp  and 

glory  stopped  when  we    reached  the  Pope's    room.      The 

door  was  flung  open  and  instead  of  finding   the  Pope  on 

his  throne  surrounded  by  ecclesiastics  waiting    for  me  to 

kiss    his    foot,    as    some    people    used    to    say,    I    found 

standing    almost   on    the    threshold    a  dear  old  priest  all 

alone,  the  like  of  whom  I  have  seen    in    many    an    Irish 

village,  who  would  not  even    let    me    kiss    his  ring.      He 

grasped  both  my  hands  and  then  putting  one  arm  round 

my  neck,  led  me  to  a  chair,  where  we  sat  and  talked  for 

nearly  two  hours." 

194 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

He  was  introduced  at  the  Vatican  by  the  Marquis 
MacSweeny,  and  accompanied  by  Mgr.  Cameron,  from 
Canada,  and  with  the  aid  of  an  interpreter  had  long 
conversations  on  the  religious,  political  and  industrial 
movements  of  Ireland.  "  I  recognize,"  the  Holy  P^athcr  is 
reported  as  saying,  "  the  Irish  party  as  the  defenders  of 
the  Catholic  religion,  because  it  is  the  national  religion 
and  it  is  the  national  party,  and  the  struggles  of  the 
party  by  lawful  and  peaceful  means  to  win  political 
liberty  for  Ireland,  and  to  obtain  the  full  civic  rights  of 
the  Irish  people  denied  them  at  present,  have  my  deep 
sympathy  and  blessing." 

The  report  of  this  interview  in  all  the  English  Press 
caused  not  a  little  controversy,  which,  of  course,  took  the 
colour  of  the  channels  through  which  it  passed.  The 
Pope  was  declared  a  Home  Ruler  in  some  quarters.  It 
was  in  other  quarters,  of  course,  denied  that  any 
reference  to  Home  Rule  had  been  made  or  intended, 
but  one  correspondent  tried  to  place  upon  the  visit 
another  political  significance  by  saying  that  the  Pontiff 
had  lectured  John  Redmond  on  his  disloyalty,  expressing 
his  highest  appreciation  of  the  cordial  reception  given 
to  King  Edward  during  his  visit  to  Ireland,  and  specially 
recommended  to  the  Irish  leader  and  the  Irish  nation 
loyalty  to  their  sovereign  and  respect  for  the  constituted 
authority. 

The  resentment,  however,  from  both  parties  was  equally 

195  13* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

irrelevant,  as  not  only  had  the  Holy  Father  no  intention 
to  exert  any  political  influence  on  English  domestic 
affairs,  but  probably  no  Irishman  would  admit  his  right, 
even  if  it  were  attempted.  The  whole  visit  was  public, 
but  hardly  official,  and  it  meant  no  more  in  the  sphere 
of  politics  for  John  Redmond  than  for  King  Edward  to  be 
received.  It  was,  however,  a  graceful  recognition  of 
Catholic  services  of  the  Irishman  ;  and  the  large  portrait 
which  the  Pontiff  presented  to  Mr.  Redmond  was 
endorsed  in  the  Pope's  own  hand  with  the  following 
inscription  : — 

"  To  my  beloved  Son,  John  Redmond,  Leader  of  the 
Irish  Party  in  the  House  of  Commons,  with  a  wish  that 
he,  together  with  his  equally  beloved  colleagues,  using  all 
legal  and  peaceful  means,  may  win  that  liberty  which 
makes  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country,  we  impart 
our  Apostolic  Benediction  with  particular  affection. 

"  From  the  Vatican. 

"  27  April,  1905, 

"  Pius  PP." 

One  cannot  help  remarking,  however,  that  this  Ponti- 
fical tribute  was  fitting  to  one  who  had  suffered  so  much 
from  the  Catholic  hierarchy  of  his  own  land  during  the 
dark  and  troublous  period  of  the  Split,  when  to  be  a  Par- 
nellite  seemed  almost  to  cease  to  be  a  Catholic.    A  weaker 

faith  would  have    made  a  Davitt ;    a    more    bigoted   one 

196 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

would  have  turned  him  against  his  leader.  The  moderate 
position,  which  was  true  to  both  causes,  is  one  of  the 
great  traits  of  the  mental  equilibrium  of  the  man,  an 
attitude  which  he  preserved  throughout  the  debates  upon 
the  Catholic    University  Bill. 

The  New  Irish  University,  which    we    will    treat  here, 
is    perhaps    the    measure    with    which    John    Redmond's 
name  will  be  most  associated  in  history,  as  it  marks  the 
final  triumph  of  a  cause  which  has  been  fought  for  ever 
since,  in  the  days  of  Grattan's  Parliament,  Trinity  opened 
its  doors  though    not    its    endowments    to    Catholics — an 
example  which  was    not  followed    by  Oxford    and    Cam- 
bridge for   three-quarters   of   a   century.     It  was  a   good 
example  of  that  Fabian  perseverance  which  is  character- 
istic of  the  creed  and  of  the  race,  and  of  John  Redmond 
in  particular  ;  a  good  lesson,  moreover,  to  those  who  for 
years   advocated  the    compromise  of  rights  which,  as  the 
Irish     leader     had     throughout     maintained,    should    be 
granted  in  full.     For  it  w^as  not  as  if  Catholics  had  been 
absolutely  excluded   from    the    Universities,     They    could 
have    compromised    their    position     by    entering    Trinity 
College,    but    they    wished    to    maintain    they  had    a    full 
right  to  a  Catholic  University,  and  they  refused  to  go  to 
one    whose    religious    atmosphere    was    antagonistic    and 
dangerous  to  them. 

The   establishment    of  three    Queen's    Colleges,    one    in 

Cork,  another  in  Galway  and  another  in    Belfast,    by  Sir 

197 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Robert  Peel,  in  1838,  was  the  first  attempt  to  supply  a 
higher  education  ;  but  "  godless  colleges,"  as  they  were 
called  from  their  undenominational  character,  were  no 
remedy  for  a  people  pining  for  a  University  with  a 
Catholic  atmosphere.  In  1873  Gladstone,  the  Just,  as  he 
ought  to  be  termed,  took  up  the  case  of  a  Catholic 
University  and  failed.  Then  Fawcett's  Act  abolished  the 
tests  on  Catholics  and  Presbyterians  in  Trinity,  But 
Newman's  attempt,  some  fifty  years  ago,  was  perhaps 
the  nearest  approach  to  what  Catholics  desired  in  the 
way  of  Catholic  University  life  and  atmosphere  (the 
Royal  University  in  1882  being  merely  an  examining 
body),  and  this  has  been  laudably  kept  up  by  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  and  in  spirit  will  no  doubt  form  the  nucleus  of 
Catholic  higher  thought.  But  the  steps  of  progress  were 
painfully  slow,  and  generation  after  generation  of  yearn- 
ing minds  had  been  doomed  to  the  limitations  of 
ordinary  public-school  education. 

In  1868  Lord  Mayo,  then  Chief  Secretary,  tried  to 
bring  forward  a  scheme.  In  1873  Gladstone  tried;  in 
1885  a  Conservative  Government  tried;  in  1889  Mr. 
Balfour;  in  1892  Lord  Randolph  Churchill;  in  1896  Lord 
Cadogan.  In  1899  Mr.  Balfour  proposed  two  new 
Universities,  one  with  a  Catholic  and  one  with  a  Pres- 
byterian atmosphere.  In  1901  the  Robertson  Commission 
proposed  to  exclude  Trinity  from  inquiry  and   constitute 

a  federal  teaching  University  with  four  colleges,  one  new 

198 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

Catholic  college  to  he  situated  in  Dublin.  Early  in 
1904,  Lord  Dunraven  proposed  the  enlargement  of  the 
University  of  Dublin  to  include  Belfast  Queen's  College 
and  proposing  a  new  Catholic  college  for  Dublin,  each 
beinjy  "  autonomous  and  residential " — and  before  the  end 
of  the  session  it  was  announced  by  the  Irish  party  that 
they  were  prepared  to  accept  either  of  the  two  last 
schemes  and  that  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  were  like- 
wise satisfied ;  but  even  then  the  Government  still 
hesitated  to  move,  although  the  Irish  leader  was  con- 
tinually urging  the  importance  of  the  question  from  the 
point  of  view  of  "  the  brain  value  of  the  nation  "  ;  each  year 
practically  meaning  a  generation  of  young  men  losing 
the  advantages  of  higher  education. 

On  March  31st,  1908,  therefore,  the  third  great  measure 
of  the  session  to  remedy  a  grievance  which  was  certainly 
second  only  to  Home  Rule  was  introduced  by  Mr. 
Birrell,  who  told  the  House  that  he  had  only  accepted 
the  Chief  Secretaryship  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to 
solve  the  problem  which  Mr.  Bryce's  retirement  had  left 
suspended. 

The  scheme  proposed  to  deal  with  the  two  Universities 

in  the    following    manner,    not    in    Mr.  Bryce's  bi-federal 

scheme.     Instead    of   the    existing    Trinity    College    and 

Royal    University,    forming    one     University     with     two 

colleges,  two  new  Universities    were    to    be    formed — one 

in  Dublin,  consisting  of  the  Cork    and    Galway    colleges, 

199 


JOHN   REDMOND 

and  a  new  college  in  Dublin,  and  the  other  in  Belfast, 
thus  satisfying  the  grievances  of  both  Presbyterians  and 
Catholics.  The  governing  authorities  were  to  be  elective, 
no  religious  tests  were  to  be  imposed,  and  powers  of 
ai^liation  were  to  be  conferred  so  as  to  include  May- 
nooth.  But  great  as  was  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the 
Bill  was  welcomed  (leave  being  given  to  introduce  the 
Bill  by  317  votes  to  24),  there  were  some  who  looked 
upon  it  as  likely  to  perpetuate  the  religious  differences 
of  the  country  by  making  the  Universities  into  theo- 
logical pens. 

This  was  greatly  resented  by  the  Irish  leader,  who 
pointed  out  that  wherever  denominations  existed  a 
certain  amount  of  denominationalism  must  result,  for  so 
it  was  at  the  Mahomedan  University  at  Khartoum ;  and 
a  pleasing  touch  of  generosity  was  seen  in  the  consent 
of  Roman  Catholic  bishops  to  allow  their  positions  to 
depend  upon  the  election  of  graduates.  But  the  general 
spirit  was  as  Mr.  Redmond  had  continually  urged  upon 
the  House — to  trust  the  Irish  people  ;  and  such  in  the 
end  was  done,  with  the  result,  as  the  Irish  leader  himself 
put  it,  that  they  have  at  last  a  great  democratic  and 
national  University. 

Again,    it    is    pleasing    to    note    the  difference  between 

Mr.  Redmond  and  others,  like  F.   H.  O'Donnell,    on    the 

point    of    view    of    education.     Both,    it    is    true,  are    in 

favour     of    the     National     element     overshadowing     the 

200 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

sectarian,  but  from  different  points  of  view.  The  one  is 
from  the  wish  to  denominationalize,  the  other  from  the 
wish  to  protect  undenominationalism.  Mr.  O'Donnell  is 
strongly  in  favour  of  mixed  education.  He  quotes 
instances  such  as  where  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  five 
hundred  leading  Catholics  rejected  the  idea  of  a  Catholic 
University  when  Leo  XIII.  and  Cardinal  Manning  tried 
to  impose  on  them  such  a  University  under  Monsignor 
Capel.  They  would  have  none  of  it  ;  and  the  Holy 
Father  decided  with  them.  Of  course  it  was  open  to 
Irishmen  also  to  go  to  the  existing  Universities,  and 
Trinity  could  have  been  "  flooded "  long  ago.  But  this 
would  have  been  a  compromise,  and  both  from  political 
and  religious  motives  Mr.  Redmond  was  against  it  in 
principle,  refusing  to  send  his  own  son  where  he  had 
been  educated  himself. 

Mr.  O'Donnell's  History  of  the  Irish  Party  pleads  a 
cause,  but  it  is   none  the  less  interesting  for  that. 

"The  English  Catholics  absolutely  refused  to  attend 
the  Pope's  Catholic  University  in  England,"  he  writes. 
"  They  maintain  their  right  to  attend  the  national  Uni- 
versities of  Britain,  and  they  got  the  new  Catholic 
University  abolished  and  free  access  to  the  national 
Universities  guaranteed  by  Papal  and  episcopal  decree. 
The  Jesuits  and  the  Benedictines  at  once  set  about 
opening    Catholic    halls    of    residence     at    Oxford    and 

Cambridge,   just   as   they    could    do   in    Queen's  College, 

201 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Cork  or  Galway ;  and  leading  Jesuits  openly  write 
that  mingling  with  their  fellow-countrymen  is  most 
beneficial  to  the  Catholic  students  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge. .  .  .  No  Catholic  State  in  the  world  supports  a 
Catholic  University.  The  mingling  of  fellow-countrymen 
of  different  religions  is  more  necessary  in  Ireland  than 
anywhere  in  the  world.  That  is  why  the  '  Union  Policy ' 
is  to  keep  them    separated    even    in  the  University." 

How  far  the  new  National  University  will  meet  the 
wants  of  the  new  generation ;  how  far  Trinity,  where 
there  are  this  year  a  record  number  of  Catholics,  will 
lose  ;  how  far  the  establishment  of  two  Universities  will 
tend  to  perpetuate  the  religious  differences  and  separate 
the  national  life  of  each  generation  into  two  theological 
camps  ;  how  far  the  gradual  advance  of  liberal  thought 
will  gradually  secularize  both,  is  a  question  which 
only  the  future  can  solve.  One  can  only  say  with 
Mr.  Balfour  in  1899 — "It  is  not  for  us  to  consider  how 
far  the  undoubtedly  conscientious  objections  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  population  to  use  the  means  at  their 
disposal  are  wise  or  unwise.  This  is  not  our  business. 
What  we  have  to  do  is  to  consider  what  we  can  do 
consistently  with  our  conscience  to  meet  their  wants." 
The  justice  of  these  wants  was  admitted  ;  they  were 
unjustly  withheld  ;  they  have  at  last  been  granted  ; 
that   is,   from    Mr.    Redmond's  point  of  view,  the   end    of 

the  question, 

202 


AND  THE  LIBERALS 

The  two  attitudes  are  characteristic  of  the  men.  Mr. 
O'Donnell  starts  with  the  intention  of  repressing  the 
clergy,  for  he  is  an  open  anti-clerical.  Mr.  Redmond, 
on  the  contrary,  looks  facts  in  the  face  and  sees  that 
if  the  clergy  will  predominate  it  will  be  on  account 
of  their  own  individual  merits,  and  simply  because 
there  is  no  body  of  educated  laity  fit  to  take  their 
place  ;  but  even  if  there  were,  he  would  oppose  the 
spirit  which  disqualified  a  man  for  science  because  of 
the  sacredness  of  his  calling  and  then  scoffs  at  the 
sanctity  of  the  calling  because  it  does  not  contribute 
to  the  advance  of  science. 

John  Redmond  sees  the  practical  grievance  of  a 
Catholic  being  deprived  of  University  teaching  because 
of  the  danger  to  his  faith ;  he  simply  wishes  to  put 
an  end  to  it.  It  is  not  for  him  to  discuss  whether 
the  Catholic  is  right  or  wrong  in  his  scruple,  nor  to 
question  the  wisdom  of  a  Presbyterian  University  being 
established  also.  But  he  will  not  have  religious  tests 
imposed  to  compel  belief.  He  simply  takes  the  de- 
nominations as  they  stand,  and  gives  both  full  liberty 
upon  the  broad  national  basis.  For  to  foster  denomina- 
tionalism  is  a  much  more  undenominational  act  than  to 
suppress  it.  The  priest  will,  therefore,  rule  more  by 
reason  of  his  individuality  than  of  his  office  ;  more  by 
his  learning  than  his  sacred  character,  as  did  the  Fathers 

in  the  schools  of  Alexandria, 

203 


CHAPTER   Y III.— conttnued 

II. — THE   DEVOLUTION   SCHEME — THE   LAND   AND 

THE   LORDS 
1905 — 1910 

A  PART  from  the  Education  and  the  University  ques- 
tion, another  great  matter  called  for  attention  in 
Ireland,  namely,  the  reform  of  bureaucracy  and  the 
substitution  of  popular  government,  or  Home  Rule,  and 
a  great  advance  in  that  direction  was  made  in  the 
famous    Councils  Bill. 

It  was  generally  thought  that  its  rejection  had  cost 
John  Redmond  his  reputation  as  a  statesman.  It  will 
probably  be  found,  in  the  light  of  future  history, 
to  have  made  it ;  for  he  is  nothing  if  not  an  advocate 
of  full  measures,  and  it  was  essentially  a  half 
measure.  But  it  was  dangerous  ground,  and  for  a 
short  time  after  their  return  to  power,  the  Liberals  did 
not  touch  the  question  of  Ireland.  They  merely  let 
matters  mature,  and  John  Redmond,  while  declaring 
emphatically  that  nothing  short  of  Home  Rule  would 
satisfy  the  Nationalists,  made  it  plain  that  they  would  do 

everything  in  reason  to  help  the  solution  of  the  problem. 

204 


REDMOND   AND   THE   LIBERALS 

The  continuance  of  the  Sir  Antony  MacDonnell  con- 
troversy still  kept  the  reform  of  bureaucracy  before  the 
public,  but  it  became  more  and  more  evident  that  Devo- 
lution and  Home  Rule  had  never  been  identical  ;  Lord 
Lansdovvne  declaring  that  the  Government  had  never 
entertained  the  slightest  idea  of  paving  the  way  for  Home 
Rule,  and  Mr.  Balfour  denouncing  the  preposterous 
legend  which  had  accused  the  Unionist  party  of  a  crime, 
as  he  put  it,  almost  as  bad  as  horse-stealing. 

Accordingly  on  September  23rd,  1907,  John  Redmond 
once  more  put  forward  the  Irish  demand,  declaring  that  he 
did  not  believe  that  any  settlement  of  the  Irish  question 
could  ever  come  from  a  parliament  that  did  not  under- 
stand Irish  ideas  and  generally  disregarded  Irish  public 
opinion  :  while  as  to  the  scheme  of  administrative  Home 
Rule,  so  much  in  the  air,  though  he  himself  could  only 
look  upon  it  as  a  makeshift,  when  the  Ministerial  pro- 
posals had  been  drafted  they  would  be  submitted  to  a 
Convention.  There  were  many,  such  as  Mr.  W.  O'Brien, 
who  disagreed  with  this  attitude  of  pressure  on  the  part 
of  the  leader,  as  opposed  to  a  more  conciliatory  tone  ; 
but  the  memory  of  the  old  Parnellite  methods  was  still 
strong,  and  perhaps,  too,  Mr.  Redmond  was  thinking 
that  the  period  most  noted  for  conciliation,  from  1829  to 
1869,  had  likewise  been  the  most  barren  in  legislation. 
In  any  case,  he  warned    the    Government    of   the    danger 

of  half  measures. 

205 


JOHN   REDMOND 

The  reform  of  bureaucracy  had  been  a  long  felt 
want :  it  was  the  fundamental  grievance  imposed  by 
the  Union ;  and  it  was  against  this  system  that  most  of 
the  Nationalist  attacks  had  converged  under  the  name  of 
Home  Rule,  which  had  only  become  a  Separatist  move- 
ment when,  allied  to  the  religious  and  agrarian  griev- 
ances, all  constitutional  means  seemed  to  have  failed. 
Hence  all  idea  of  separation  was  dead,  as  Mr.  Bryce 
himself  declared  when  Chief  Secretary.  "  Those  in  Ireland 
who  desire  separation,"  he  said,  "  are  an  insignificant 
minority,  for  the  great  bulk  of  the  people  have  the  com- 
mon sense  to  know  they  must  continue  linked  with  Great 
Britain.  The  idea  of  a  serious  movement  in  favour  of 
separation  is  a  mere  chimera."  The  Home  Rule  move- 
ment had,  therefore,  become  more  a  set  of  business  pro- 
positions to  promote  economy  and  efficiency  of  adminis- 
tration than  any  attempt  to  set  up  a  new  nation.  It  was 
purely  and  simply  a  matter  of  internal  reform — a  reform 
which  all  have  admitted  necessary — in  a  system  which 
none  have  ever  endeavoured  to  defend. 

What  the  faults  of  this  most  extravagant  government 
in  the  world  are,  is  best  told  in  the  words  of  Lord 
Dunraven,  than  whom  few  have  stated  the  case  at  once 
with  more  moderation,  accuracy  or  loyalty.  There 
are,  according  to  him,  sixty-seven  departments  constitut- 
ing  the   civil   administration   of  Ireland,    through    which 

every  project  has  to  struggle  until  it  emerges  in  London 

206 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

at  the  mercy  of  some  Treasury  clerk,  absolutely  out  of 
touch  with  Irish  life,  and  engaged  for  the  most  part  in 
compiling  folios  on  "  the  wages  of  charwomen  and  the 
price  of  paint,"  as  he  humorously  puts  it. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  describe  what  is  commonly  called 
Castle  government,"  he  writes.  "  It  is  easier  to  say  what 
it  is  not,  than  what  it  is.  It  is  not  a  democratic  form 
of  government,  for  the  people  have  nothing  to  say  to  it, 
either  through  some  representative  machinery  in  Dublin 
or  through  their  representatives  at  Westminster.  It  is 
not  despotism,  because  the  Lord  Lieutenant  has  very 
little  power.  It  is  not  exactly  an  oligarchy,  though  a 
small  but  avaricious  section  of  the  community  appear 
to  think  that  the  country  should  be  run  for  their  benefit 
alone.  It  is  a  sort,  and  a  very  bad  sort,  of  bureaucracy — 
a  government  by  departments  in  Ireland,  uncontrolled 
by  Parliament,  uncontrolled  by  any  public  body  in 
Ireland,  and  subject  only  to  a  department  in  London. 
It  is  the  most  expensive  system  of  government  in  the 
world.  Head  for  head,  the  government  of  Ireland 
costs  more  than  the  government  of  any  civilized  com- 
munity on  the  whole  face  of  the  earth.  Under  it  there 
is  no  security  whatever  against  absolute  waste  and 
misapplication  of  money — no  security  against  the  indirect 
extravagance  that  arises  from  money  not  being  spent  in 
the  best  direction  or  in  the  wisest  way." 

The  facts  none    deny ;    nor    would    anyone  pretend    to 

207 


JOHN   REDMOND 

justify  the  system  ;  like  many  others,  it  has  become 
hereditary,  or  rather  exists  merely  by  the  force  of  its 
own  inherent  uselessness  and  unassailability.  But  as  far 
as  public  opinion  of  all  classes  is  concerned,  all  admitted 
the  time  was  ripe  for  a  great  measure  of  reform.  The 
only  question  that  arose  with  the  devolutionists  was  how 
far  it  should  extend.  The  proposals  of  the  Irish  Reform 
Association  were  mainly  three:  (i)  To  relieve  the 
Imperial  Parliament  of  the  superabundance  of  business  by 
delegating  to  an  Irish  body  legislative  functions  ;  (2)  To 
secure  Irish  business  being  transacted  by  Irish  experts ; 
(3)  To  employ  Irish  local  talent,  knowledge  and  experience 
in  the  financial  administration  of  the  country. 

The  proposals  of  the  Irish  Nationalists  were  that,  not 
by  "  mending,  but  by  ending,"  was  the  question  of 
bureaucracy  to  be  settled.  They  wanted  a  bill  to  do 
for  Irish  administration  what  the  Wyndham  Act  had 
done  for  land — that  is,  effect  a  complete  change  of 
hands  by  which  the  great  over-Lord  England  would  be 
none  the  worse,  since  it  would  be  rid  of  work  and 
responsibility,  while  Ireland,  the  tenant,  so  to  speak, 
would  thus  be  enabled  to  manage  her  own  affairs  with 
more  knowledge  and  interest.  The  English  Liberals  were 
on  the  whole  most  favourable  to  this  plan,  and  an  in- 
dication of  the  spirit  of  conciliation  was  shown  on  the 
appointment  of  the  then   Chief  Secretary,   Mr.  Bryce,    to 

fulfil  the  duties   of  English  Ambassador  in  America,     It 

208 


From  a  draicing  hy  Sir  Francis  C.  Gould,  by  kind  permission  of  "  The   We.-<l minster  Gazette,-  ichere  it  appeared 

June  2U/(,  19(17. 

A    NEW    "MAKE-UP." 
Mr.   TOHN    REDMOND  :    "  Do  I  look  great  and  really  virile  now,  Miss  Erin  ?  " 

Miss  ERIN  :  "  Shure,  Mr.  Redmond,  and  it's  trimblin'  in  their  shoes  the  toyrants  will  be 
when  they  see  you.     And  you'll  be  talkin'  to  thim  in  the  ould  tongue." 

(At  a  moeting  of  the  National  United  Irish  League  in  Dublin,  on  Thursday,  June  20th,  1907,  a 
resolution  was  passed  calling  upon  the  Irish  people  "  to  inaugurate,  without  further  delay,  a  great 
and  really  virile  movement  to  win  that  full  national  self-government  which  must  be  secured  before 
the  foundation  of  Ireland's  prosperity  in  the  future  can  be  laid.") 


{To  face  p.  :o8. 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

was  rumoured  that   the  Irish    leader   was  himself  offered 
the  position  thus    vacated.     At   any   rate  the   new   Chief 
Secretary  was    generally    understood    to    be  his  nominee. 
"  There  are  two  men  whose  opinion  on  the  choice  would 
be   worth  having,"  wrote    Mr.  Stead  at  the  beginning  of 
1907,  "Mr.  Redmond  and  Sir  Antony  MacDonnell.     The 
new    Chief    Secretary,    whoever    he     may    be,    ought   to 
regard    himself  as    Mr.    Redmond's  man.     Mr,   Redmond 
himself  ought    to  be  Chief   Secretary,    but    as  he  is  pre- 
cluded from  taking  the  post  the  Cabinet  ought  to  accept 
Mr.    Redmond's   nominee   and    the   new   Chief    Secretary 
ought    to    do    what    Mr.    Redmond    tells   him.     For    Mr. 
Redmond,  if  Home  Rule  were  granted,  would    be    Prime 
Minister  of  Ireland." 

The  appointment  of  Mr.  Birrell,  a  great  friend  of  the 
Irish  leader,  and  one  than  whom  few  could  imagine  a 
more  genial,  just  and  conciliatory  spirit  to  undertake  the 
labours  of  the  reform  of  Irish  government,  was  the 
signal  for  a  forward  movement,  and  for  months  all  was 
expectancy  to  know  what  would  be  the  limit  and  scope 
of  the  Liberal  party's  Irish  programme  after  twenty 
years  of  exile,  endured  mostly  for  their  devotion  to  the 
rights  of  Ireland  to  political  autonomy. 

When  at  last,  on  May  17th,  1907,  the  Chief  Secretary  in- 
troduced the  long  expected  measure  in  the  "  Irish  Councils 
Bill,"    the    House    presented    a    scene    not     unlike     that 

when  Gladstone  proposed  an  end  to  "  the  hundred  years 

209  14 


JOHN   REDMOND 

war "  of  English  politics.  The  measure  had  been  care- 
fully conceived  and  moulded  by  the  successive  efforts  of 
Sir  Antony  MacDonnell,  Mr.  Bryce  and  Mr.  Birrell,  but 
in  scope  it  was  very  modest,  too  modest,  perhaps,  to  be 
worthy  of  a  party  which  could,  at  one  stroke  of  generous 
legislation,  turn  Botha,  an  armed  rebel,  into  one  of  the 
most  loyal  of  Imperial  Premiers.  It  merely  proposed  a 
co-ordination  of  the  chief  Castle  boards,  under  a  popular 
council,  which  would  be  partly  elective  and  partly 
nominated,  and  which  was  to  have  certain  powers  of 
controlling  finance  and  administration.  To  those  who, 
like  John  Redmond — that  Irish  Fabius,  as  he  has  been 
called — looked  upon  it  as  the  culmination  of  the  hopes 
and  battles  of  fifteen  years,  it  must  have  produced  a 
certain  feeling  of  disappointment.  It  was  worthy  of  a 
better  fate,  it  is  true  ;  much  progress  might  have  been 
made  in  the  years  since  elapsed  ;  at  the  same  time  its 
history  bears  a  marked  resemblance  to  those  many 
tentative  compromises  in  the  way  of  higher  educational 
facilities  and  a  century  of  Land  Acts,  by  the  constant 
rejection  of  which  a  Catholic  University  and  a  peasant 
proprietary  had  been  won. 

The  House  of  Commons  would  be  in  no  way  affected 
by  it,  as  the  Chief  Secretary  explained ;  but  its  object 
was  of  supreme  importance  as  associating  the  sentiment 
of    the    Irish    people    with    the    conduct    of  purely  Irish 

affairs.     If  the  plan  were  successful,  it  could  be  used  as 

210 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

an  argument  for  Home  Rule ;  if  not,  an  argument  against 

it.     In  any  case,  it  would  be  giving  the   question   a   fair 

trial,    and,    as    he    went    on    to    point    out,    it    would  be 

shocking  for  anyone  to  lay  down  that  the  Irish  were  to 

be  denied  the  opportunity  of  showing   themselves  fit  for 

self-government,   on   the   ground    that,  should  they  prove 

their    fitness    for    it,    the    British  people  might  some  day 

grant  them  Home  Rule. 

The    House    expected    an    immediate    eulogy    of    the 

concession    from    the    Irish    leader.     John    Redmond  was 

perfectly    calm  :    though    it    could    be    seen,    spoke  with 

obvious     emotion.      He     neither     praised     nor     blamed  : 

neither    accepted    nor    rejected.     But    in    this  attitude  he 

was  never  more   himself.     He  said  he  had  never  addressed 

the  House  under  a   heavier   sense   of   responsibility — that 

no  one  in  his  position  could  take  upon  himself  the  onus 

of    refusing    any     measure,    however    small,    that   would 

remove   even   one  Irish  grievance  ;    but,  in    any  case,    the 

Bill  should   have    to   await   the   decision   of  the  National 

Convention.     Its    subsequent    rejection    on    the    leader's 

own  motion  was  a  tragic  end.     It  was    said  that  he  had 

executed    a    volte-face :    and    that    a    little   more  firmness 

would    have    made   him    a  statesman.       On  the  contrary, 

the    whole    incident   stamped    him    as     one.     In   the  first 

place,  six    months    before,     he    had    almost    foretold    his 

action.     "  When    the    scheme     is     produced    it    will    be 

anxiously  and  carefully  examined,"  he  had  said.     *'  It  will 

211  14* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

be  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the  Irish  people,  and 
no  decision  will  be  come  to,  whether  by  me  or  by  the 
Irish  party,  until  the  whole  question  has  been  submitted 
to  a  National  Convention.  When  the  hour  of  that  Con- 
vention comes,  any  influence  which  I  possess  with  my 
fellow  countrymen  will  be  used  to  induce  them  to 
reject  any  proposal,  no  matter  how  plausible,  which  in 
my  judgment  may  be  calculated  to  injure  the  prestige 
of  the  Irish  party,  and  disrupt  the  national  movement, 
because  my  first  and  my  greatest  policy,  which  over- 
shadows everything  else,  is  to  preserve  a  united  National 
party  in  Parliament,  and  a  united  powerful  organization 
in  Ireland,  until  we  achieve  the  full  measure  to  which 
we  are  entitled." 

In  the  second  place,  nothing  could  be  a  better  refuta- 
tion of  personal  autocracy  than  this  attitude,  which 
could  not  by  any  distortion  be  looked  upon  as  the 
pronouncement  of  a  "  boss."  But  not  only  does  it  show 
the  representative  character  of  the  party  and  its  depen- 
dence on  the  voice  of  the  nation,  but  it  also  shows  the 
independence  of  that  nation.  You  cannot  square  Redmond, 
simply  because  Redmond  is  the  mouthpiece,  not  the 
ruler,  of  Ireland.  Parnell  would  have  spoken  for  the 
nation  ;  Redmond  speaks  by  the  nation.  He  was  not 
committed  to  the  Bill  ;  he  simply  executed  a  commission  ; 
he  had  even  passed  no  judgment  on  it.  He  had  but 
laid  the  Bill  before  the  Convention    like  an  ambassador 

212 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

without  in  any  way  coming  between  the  delegates  and 
their  decision. 

It  was  not,  therefore,  that  he  did  not  see  the  great 
advance  which  such  a  scheme  would  mean  to  the  cause 
of  Irish  autonomy,  so  much  as  the  fact  that  he  considered 
it  a  substitutive  measure  even  in  the  minds  of  many 
who  hitherto  had  been  whole-hearted  Home  Rulers. 
But  for  the  Devolutionists,  he  contended,  a  Home  Rule 
Bill  would  have  been  proposed  instead  of  the  Councils 
Bill.  Nor  was  it  that  he  was  averse  to  compromise  ; 
for  as  a  practical  politician  he  could  not  be  opposed 
to  considering  any  scheme  on  its  merits  ;  but  merits 
it  must  have,  and  looking  at  the  Bill  in  detail,  he 
thought  he  discovered  many  things  that  might  lead 
to  antagonism  to  the  party.  "  By  the  constitution  of 
this  Council  it  is  extremely  doubtful  to  my  mind,"  he 
said,  "whether  the  real  feeling  of  the  overwhelming 
mass  of  the  Irish  people  would  be  truly  reflected 
in  a  workable  majority  on  the  Council,  and  there 
would  be  the  greatest  possible  danger  that  the  Council 
would  constitute  a  sort  of  rival  bod}'  to  tlie  Irish 
Nationalist  party,  which,  as  I  have  said,  I  believe 
to  be  the  greatest  weapon,  with  an  organized  country 
behind  it,  which  Ireland  has  in  her  possession." 

This  latter  view  was  probably  stronger  than  any  other 

for  its  rejection.     A    superficial  critic  would  impute  it  to 

jealousy ;     a   business    man    alone   could    understand    the 

213 


JOHN   REDMOND 

hopeless  complication  that  would  arise  in  having  two 
"  representative "  bodies  claiming  to  speak  for  the  same 
firm  ;  and  John  Redmond,  though  in  no  sense  a  business 
man,  has  all  those  organizing  instincts  which  in  another 
sphere  would  have  made  him  one.  It  was  the  practised 
politician  and  organizer  who  spoke.  He  saw  in  the  Bill, 
not  only  a  wedge  placed  between  the  members  of  Parlia- 
ment and  the  nation,  but  a  policy  which  would  only 
make  the  unanimity  of  the  Irish  demand  still  more 
difficult. 

The  wisdom  of  the  immediate  rejection  of  the  Bill  is, 
of  course,  open  to  criticism.  The  suggestion  of  Mr.  F.  H. 
O'Donnell  that  its  rejection  was  due  to  the  aversion  of  the 
clergy  to  lay  control  in  matters  of  education  may  not  be 
without  foundation.  That  it  would  have  been  easy,  as  Mr. 
O'Brien  pointed  out,  to  propose  a  showier  scheme  certain 
of  rejection  is  also  true ;  but  how  far  Lord  Dunraven 
was  right  in  maintaining  "  that  if  the  Bill  be  lost  by 
its  summary  rejection  by  the  Convention,  Ireland  would 
receive  a  heavier  blow  from  her  own  hands  than  the 
ingenuity  of  her  enemies  could  have  possibly  devised," 
must  be  judged  by  subsequent  events.  The  great  fact 
remains  that  it  was  unanimously  rejected  as  insufficient 
even  by  some  of  its  warmest  admirers.  "The  Irish 
people,"  wrote  Mr.  O'Brien  in  the  case  he  made  out  for 
Devolution    as    a    first    step    to    Home    Rule,    "were    the 

sovereign  judges  of  life   and   death   of  the   Bill.     It   was 

214 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

niggardly  enough  to  be  a  caricature  and  an  outrage  if  it 
were  really  set  up  as  a  full  satisfaction  of  the  national 
demand  for  self-government.  Those  who  most  deplore 
the  action,  however,  for  there  was  no  deliberation,  will 
find  elements  of  grandeur  in  the  unworldliness  with  which 
thousands  of  excellent  Irishmen  threw  all  chance  of  self- 
government  to  the  winds,  under  the  misunderstanding 
that  they  would  be  otherwise  compromising  the  national 
demand  for  complete  government  of  purely  domestic 
affairs  by  an  Irish  executive  reponsible  to  an  Irish 
government,  such  as  are  scattered  by  dozens  over  every 
part  of  the  Empire." 

For  weeks  and  months  Mr.  Redmond's  attitude  was 
the  subject  of  criticism.  In  his  own  party,  even,  it 
produced  no  little  dissension  and  no  few  secessions, 
and  was  the  first  rift  in  the  lute.  This  disagreement 
probably  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  new  party  of  ten 
which  was  later  to  be  returned  under  the  leadership  of 
Mr.  W.  O'Brien.  But  by  the  first  months  of  1908  the 
points  of  reunion  had  been  settled  and  the  party  plunged 
into  the  fray  with  renewed  vigour,  on  the  old  Parnellite 
principle,  of  forcing,  rather  than  kissing,  the  hands 
of  the  Government.  And  the  further  progress  of  the 
land  question  and  the  settlement  of  the  University 
question  are  a  testimony  to  its  efficacy.  As  to  the 
"folly"  of  the  rejection,  Mr.  Redmond  made  his  apology 
in  Dublin  in  the  September  following.     He  said  : 

215 


JOHN   REDMOND 

"Now,  we  did  our  utmost  to  extend  that  Bill  and  make 

it  worth  acceptance,    at   any   rate  as  an  instalment ;    but 

when    we   came   to   the    point  when   we   found  we  could 

get    them    to    go    no    further  in  the  direction  we  wanted, 

we   felt  it  our    duty    to    allow    the    Bill    to  be  introduced 

and  to  let   the    Irish    people  see  exactly  how  they  stood 

with    reference  to  this  Government.      Its  production    and 

its  fate  will  prove,  in  my  opinion,  probably  a  blessing  in 

disguise.     Certainly  the   fate   of  that   great    measure   has 

shown    the    Government    the    impossibility    of   satisfying 

Ireland  with  anything  short   of  real    Home    Rule,  and  it 

has    also    made    this    certain,    that    Home    Rule    and  not 

Devolution  will  be  the  Irish  policy  put  before  the  electors 

at  the    next    General    Election.       If   that    Bill    had    been 

accepted  here  as  an    instalment,  and   if  it  had  passed,  as 

it   would  have   passed,  the  House   of  Commons,    it    most 

undoubtedly  would  have  been  rejected  by  the    House   of 

Lords,   and    then    it — that   is,    the    Irish    Councils    Bill — 

would  have  definitely  passed   into  the  programme  of  the 

Liberal  party    as    their    Irish    policy,    whereas    now,    after 

what  has  happened,  Home  Rule,  and  whole  Home  Rule, 

must    be    the    policy    of    the    Liberal    party    before    the 

next  General  Election." 

Certainly  as  far  as  the  Prime  Minister  was   concerned 

the  prognostication  was  correct.     "  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 

Bannerman    was    by    far    the    most    faithful    of   the   old 

Liberals,"     as  T.  P.    O'Connor  remarks    in    a    sketch    of 

2l6 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

the  career  of  that  statesman,  "  and  the  Irish  National- 
ists had  an  affection  for  him  such  as  they  probably 
never  felt  for  any  other  Prime  Minister  before,"  but 
"  The  rejection  of  the  Councils  Bill  produced  no  es- 
trangement between  them  and  C.-B.  Indeed,  immedi- 
ately after  the  return  from  the  fateful  Convention  in 
Dublin,  the  Irish  leaders  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
Conference  with  regard  to  the  Bill  of  the  Government 
were  agreeably  surprised  by  the  cordiality  with  which 
C.-B.  received  them.  There  was  no  trace  of  bitterness, 
partly,  doubtless,  because  C.-B.  and  the  Irishmen  had 
been  united  in  pressing  in  vain  on  the  Cabinet — or  on 
a  section  of  the  Cabinet — the  amendments  in  the 
measure  which  might  have  secured  its  acceptance."  In 
fact,  it  appears  that  one  of  the  Prime  Minister's  last  acts 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  support  he  gave  to  a 
motion  in  favour  of  Home  Rule,  was  a  confirmation  of 
the  verdict  of  the  Convention. 

It  was  at  first  suggested  that  the  Prime  Minister 
should  propose  this  Home  Rule  resolution.  As  the 
day  approached  letters  passed  continually  between  the 
Premier  and  the  Irish  leader,  and  it  was  settled  that 
the  latter  should  propose  the  resolution,  and  that  the 
former  should  wind  up  the  debate  with  a  strong  speech 
in  its  support.  As  T.  P.  O'Connor  goes  on  to  say,  re- 
ferring to  Sir  H.  Campell-Bannerman : 

*'  This  was  probably  one  of  the  last  things  he  attended 

217 


JOHN   REDMOND 

to  in  Parliament.  On  February  13th  he  was  down  at 
the  House  for  a  short  while  ;  the  Irish  motion  was  to 
take  place  the  next  week.  One  of  the  last  men  to  whom 
he  spoke  was  Mr.  Redmond,  making  the  final  arrange- 
ments which  death  alone  prevented  from  completion." 

The  final  triumph,  however,  of  the  policy  of  John 
Redmond  and  the  National  Convention  came  when  on 
the  eve  of  the  election  campaign,  on  December  17th, 
Mr.  Asquith,  whose  succession  to  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman  had  been  looked  upon  rather  with  suspicion 
by  the  Nationalists,  sounded  the  death  knell  of  Devolu- 
tion, as  Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor  put  it,  by  an  open  avowal 
of  the  full  Gladstonian  policy,  and  the  position  lost  by 
the  rejection  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  of  1893  was  re- 
gained in   1909. 

The  famous  Albert  Hall  pledge  was  as  follows  : 
"Speaking  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  in  March 
of  last  year,  a  week  before  my  accession  to  the  office 
of  Prime  Minister,  I  described  Ireland  as  the  one  un- 
deniable failure  of  British  statesmanship  (cheers).  I 
repeat  here  to-night  what  I  said  then,  speaking  on 
behalf  of  my  colleagues,  and  I  believe  of  my  party, 
that  the  solution  of  the  problem  can  be  found  only  in 
one  way  (cries  of  "  Home  Rule "  and  loud  cheers),  by  a 
policy  which,  while  explicitly  safeguarding  the  supremacy 
and    indefeasible    authority    of   the    Imperial  Parliament, 

will  set  up  in  Ireland    a    system  of  full    self-government 

218 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

(loud  cheers)  in  regard  to  purely  Irish  affairs  (cheers). 
There  is  not,  and  there  cannot  be,  any  question  of 
separation  (more  cheers)  ;  there  is  not,  and  there  cannot 
be,  any  question  of  rival  or  competing  supremacies,  but, 
subject  to  those  conditions,  that  is  the  Liberal  policy 
(Cheers)." 

Once  more  the  Liberal  party  had  returned  to  its 
traditions ;  but  if  it  had,  and  if  it  had  abandoned  the 
policy  of  half  measures,  Roseberyite  and  Devolutionist,  it 
is  due  almost  entirely  to  the  Parnellite  policy  of  John 
Redmond. 

All  this  while,  though  apparently  on  the  very  eve  of 
Home  Rule,  the  party  and  the  policy  had  been  sub- 
jected to  the  most  bitter  criticism  in  Ireland.  The 
charges,  which,  if  true,  would  have  justified  the  driving 
of  every  member  not  only  from  his  seat,  but  from 
Ireland,  as  Mr.  Dillon  maintained,  were  sufficiently 
met  by  his  statement :  "  The  policy  of  Mr.  Redmond 
and  the  Irish  party  during  the  last  two  years  has  been 
abundantly  justified  by  the  position  Home  Rule  occupies 
at  the  present  moment."  Nevertheless,  Mr.  Redmond 
seemed  called  upon  to  give  an  account  of  his  steward- 
ship, which  he  accordingly  did  to  his  constituents  at 
Waterford.  He  reminded  them  of  the  programme 
he  had  sketched  out  four  years  previously.  He 
had    spoken      of  the     education     question  :     the     party 

had   given    them     a     great     Irish    national     democratic 

219 


JOHN   REDMOND 

University.  He  had  spoken  of  the  land  question :  the 
principle  of  compulsory  purchase  had  been  extended  to 
nine  counties,  and  even  beyond,  wherever  congestion 
existed,  while  the  restoration  of  the  evicted  tenants  which 
had  also  been  arranged  for,  should  have  taken  place 
in   1903  had  they  had  their  way. 

The  labouring  classes,  who  had  been  rather  overlooked 
during  the  past  twenty-five  years,  owing  to  the  leading 
position  which  the  farmers'  interests  had  occupied,  had 
been  advanced  four  and  a  half  millions,  a  sum  which 
was  building  some  fifty  thousand  decent  labourers'  cot- 
tages, to  take  the  place  of  the  old  dilapidated  hovels, 
while  town  tenants  were  protected  for  the  improvements 
on  their  premises  in  a  way  unknown  in  any  of  the 
towns  of  England,  Scotland  and  Wales.  True,  it  was 
not  a  perfect  Bill,  but  he  maintained  it  had  estab- 
lished a  principle — and  that  principle  the  party  intended 
to  extend  to  every  township  in  Ireland  ;  while  they  had 
managed  to  get  a  fund  of  ^180,000,  to  aid  local 
authorities  in  Ireland  in  housing  the  poor,  and  thus 
by  the  giving  of  decent,  proper  comforts  to  the  popr, 
raise  them  from  that  condition  of  squalor  which  was  the 
real  root  of  all  social  and  moral  degradation  that  existed 
in  overcrowded  tenements.  Again,  the  party  had 
succeeded  in  getting  all  the  agricultural  land  exempted 
from    Budget    taxes,     that     all     the     money     raised    in 

Ireland    on   such   land  as   has  increased  in  value  by   the 

220 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

action  of  the  community  siiould  go  to  the  local  authorities 
in  Ireland  and  be  used  in  the  interests  of  the  working 
classes. 

All  these  he  ventured  to  lay  before  them  as  the 
work  of  four  years,  and  if  he  were  accused  of  having 
failed  to  obtain  Home  Rule,  while  he  had  refused  the 
Councils  Bill,  it  was  only,  he  explained,  because  if  that 
Bill  had  not  been  rejected  by  the  House  of  Lords,  it 
would,  at  any  rate  for  their  lifetime,  have  become  the 
high-water  mark  of  Liberal  efforts. 

It  is   hardly  fitting   for  me    to  enter  into    the  personal 

contest    which   took    place   between    Mr.    Healy   and    Mr. 

Redmond  during  the  election  campaign  of  1910:  but  one 

can    hardly    pass    over    the    words    which    fell    from    the 

leader's  lips  during  the  fight.     "  Public  life  in  this  country 

is  hard  owing  to  such  incidents  as  these,"  he  said,  "  and 

it  is  bitter  meed  to  be    subjected  to  attacks  of  this  kind. 

My    power    for    good    has    been    small ;    my  abilities  are 

limited.     God  knows  there  is  no  one  who  is  more  conscious 

of    his    own   shortcomings    than    I    am   of  mine,   but    I 

know   that    my   motives    have    been   sound    and     honest. 

I    know    I    have   given    my   best   to   the    service    of    the 

people   of   Ireland.     When    you    are    tired    of  me,   when 

my   colleagues    in    the    House   of  Commons   are   tired  of 

me,    I    am    quite    ready    to-morrow   to    step    down    and 

out,    and    if    and  when    that    day  comes    I  will    humbly 

and  loyally  do  my  best  to  support  those  who  may  take 

221 


JOHN   REDMOND 

my  place.  But  never  so  long  as  I  live  will  I  allow 
myself  to  be  driven  out  by  calumny  and  abuse."  The 
words  were  sincere,  for  if  ever  there  was  a  man  who 
deserved  loyalty,  it  is  the  one  who  learned  to  rule  by 
having  learnt  to  serve :  and  if  there  should  ever  be  a  new 
split  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  recollection  of  those 
hard  days  spent  in  toil  for  the  resurrection  of  the 
Parnellite  policy  will  not  be  forgotten. 

But  one  cannot  help  regretting  that  upon  the  very 
eve  of  the  triumph  that  was  awaiting  that  policy 
in  Westminster  there  should  have  arisen  a  recurrence 
of  that  spirit  which  was  worthy  of  the  worst  days 
of  the  split.  It  is  the  greater  pity  because,  as  Mr. 
Redmond  once  said  at  a  St.  Patrick's  Day  banquet, 
"the  Irish  leader  is  what  the  loyalty  of  his  followers 
makes  him,"  and  there  is  probably  no  one  who  would 
more  appreciate  the  value  of  such  services  as  those 
of  Mr.  Healy  and  Mr.  O'Brien  in  continual  attend- 
ance at  Westminster  if  they  would  give  them  in  the 
way  in  which  John  Dillon — one  of  Mr.  Redmond's 
bitterest  opponents  for  ten  years — has  given  his.  In 
fact,  a  certain  Nemesis  seems  to  attend  the  Irish 
leaders.  O'Connell  was  supplanted  by  the  Young  Ire- 
landers,  Butt  was  superseded,  Parnell  hounded  to  death 
— and  quite  apart  from  the  point  of  view  of  personal 
merits,  it  must  always  be  remembered  that  it  takes  often 

a   full  decade  to   make   a  leader  who   can   command    the 

222 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

ear  and  the  respect  of  the  House.  "The  position  to 
which  I  was  elected,"  Mr.  Redmond  continued,  sketch- 
ing out  the  future  policy  of  the  party,  "was  one  of 
great  difficulty  at  any  time,  but  at  the  time  I  was  put 
into  it  the  difficulties  were  enormous  and  unprecedented. 
So  far  as  the  Parnell  split  is  concerned,  I  think  I 
have  succeeded.  I  have  endeavoured  to  be  patient  under 
unjust  and  ungenerous  criticism,  I  have  endeavoured  to 
extend  toleration  to  every  man.  .  .  I  did  not  hesitate 
to  risk  my  position  and  my  popularity  with  my  country- 
men and  my  colleagues  in  order  to  avoid  the  neces- 
sity of  extreme  action  against  men  who  were  mutineers  " 
— then  amidst  huge  applause,  the  audience  rising  to 
their  feet  and  cheering,  he  announced  the  limits  of 
patience — "  Whether  you  elect  men  hostile  to  the  party 
or  whether  you  do  not,  you  will  have  in  the  next  Parlia- 
ment a  party  which  if  it  is  not  eighty-six — I  care  not 
whether  it  is  seventy-six  or  sixty-six — will  be  a  party 
absolutely  united,  made  up  of  men  who  are  animated 
by  a  spirit  of  comradeship  and  trust." 

Nor  was  the  criticism  of  the  party  confined  to  the 
eader  or  his  methods.  The  very  existence  of  "  Parlia- 
mentarians "  is  now  being  undermined  by  the  new  Sinn 
Fein  movement — an  effort  to  abandon  the  methods  of 
Parliamentary  tactics  on  the  very  eve  of  victory — of 
which  more  later. 

The  chief  point  significant  of  the  Irish  leader's  attitude 

223 


JOHN   REDMOND 

at  the  end  of  the  session  of  1909,  however,  was  the 
Budget  and  the  veto  of  the  House  of  Lords.  Ireland 
did  not  Hke  the  Budget,  it  is  true  ;  but  as  a  wit  re- 
marked, "  Ireland  was  not  going  to  sell  Home  Rule  for 
a  glass  of  whisky."  The  remark  at  first  seems  super- 
ficial, but  it  is  deeper  than  it  appears,  for  Ireland  could 
never  expect  to  fight  the  House  of  Lords  on  Home 
Rule  alone,  and  that  House  was  the  only  obstacle  to 
Home  Rule.  "  The  issue  is  Home  Rule  for  England," 
as  John  Redmond  remarked  at  Manchester.  Ireland  is, 
therefore,  taking  part  in  one  of  the  most  important 
democratic  struggles  through  which  the  English  Con- 
stitution has  had  to  pass,  to  say  nothing  of  helping  in 
the  suppression  of  a  body  who  for  one  hundred  years 
had  steadily  opposed  the  progress  of  the  democracy 
of  both  countries. 

The  Lords  had  opposed  the  extension  of  the 
franchise,  the  ballot,  and  three  times  they  had  re- 
fused Catholic  Emancipation  till  it  was  forced  upon 
them  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  as  the  only 
alternative  to  civil  war.  They  had  been  responsible 
for  every  drop  of  blood  shed  in  the  terrible  land  war 
by  delaying,  refusing  or  distorting  every  generous 
measure  sent  up  by  the  Commons.  They,  and  they 
alone — not  the  people  of  England — were  really  hostile  to 
Irish     self-government,      as     Mr.     Redmond     maintained 

and  the   abolition   or    the    limitation  of  the   veto   of  the 

224 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

House   of  Lords  meant   Home  Rule  for  Ireland.     It  was 

hardly    to   be    expected    that    England  should    fight   the 

Lords  entirely  upon  an  Irish  question— thus   shelving  all 

British     questions    for     several     sessions,    but     once    the 

struggle    had    begun,    there    was    hardly   anything   more 

important    than    that      Ireland     should     take    her     part. 

"  Believe    me,"   he   continued,    "  the  moment   the   veto  of 

the    Lords    is     abolished    or    limited,    the    Home    Rule 

question  will  undergo  an  entire  change — instead  of  being 

a  matter  of  great  controversy,    it  will  then    be    a    matter 

of  simply    our    sitting    down    quietly    and    settling    the 

details    of    the    measure,     which    will     give    Ireland    full 

control  of  all  purely  Irish  affairs,  and  at  the   same   time 

will   completely   safeguard  all  Imperial    interests    in    this 

country.       To  talk   about   Ireland    sepayating  from    the 

Empire  is  the  most  utter  nonsense.       We  are   not  aski)ig 

for  separation!^ 

Throughout,  it  seems  as  if  it  is  not  only  the  Irishman 
who  speaks,  but  also  the  English  subject — the  "  House 
of  Commons  man,"  to  use  Mr.  Balfour's  expression.  Mr. 
Redmond  looks  upon  the  Lords  much  in  the  same  way 
as  the  Long  Parliament  looked  upon  the  Royal  preroga- 
tive— a  relic  of  mediaevalism  forfeited  by  its  use  in  a 
reactionary  and  purely  arbitrary  interest.  True,  he  fights 
for  Ireland  ;  but  his  stand  is  for  Ireland  through 
democracy  ;  and  the  day  will  come  when  it  will  be  re- 
cognized, as  Lecky  maintained,    that    no    single  element 

225  15 


JOHN  REDMOND 

in    the    House    of  Commons    has    been   more  fruitful    in 

influencing  the   progress  of  EngHsh  democracy  than  the 

Irish  party. 

John    Redmond's    message    on    the  Lords  is,  therefore, 

war — but  only  as  the  last  struggle  necessary  to  establish 

perpetual    peace    between    the    two     countries.       He    is 

fighting    a    class    to    defend    an    Empire,  and    the    great 

speech  at    Manchester    presented    an    olive    branch    from 

Ireland  to  the  English  electorate,  such  as  probably  finds 

no  parallel  either  in  spirit  or   circumstance    in    all    Irish 

history.     Speaking  of  the  separation  scare,  he  said,  "  Now, 

I  say    to    those    men    who    so    distrust    us — '  V^ery    well, 

take  with    these    Home    Rule    measures    any   guarantees 

that    you    like    to    prevent    the    possibility    of     Ireland 

immediately    raising    an     army   to   invade     England,    to 

prevent    the    possibility    of    Ireland    immediately    raising 

a    fleet    of    Dreadnoughts    to    sink    the    British     Navy.' 

Let    them    take    any    guarantees    they    like    to    prevent 

Ireland  entering  the  field    of  foreign   diplomacy    so   that 

it    will    be    impossible    for    her    to    invite    the    German 

Emperor    to    come    over    and    make    a    naval    base    of 

Belfast  Lough.     I  say  to  the  English    democracy    in    all 

seriousness,    what    we    want    is    peace    between    the    two 

countries.      VVe    have    none    of   those    heroic    ambitions 

and  hare-brained    ideas.     Our    ideas   and    our   ambitions 

are  humbler.     We  simply  want  the   people   to  turn   the 

energies   and   abilities    which   are    to-day    dissipated    in 

226 


AND   THE   LIBERALS 

this  horrible  racial  contest  between  England  and  Ireland 
to  the  prosaic  work  of  advancing  the  material  and  moral 
and  educational  elevation    of  our   own  people    at  home. 
We  know    that    it    cannot    be    done    by    outsiders.     The 
whole  history  of  the  Empire    shows    the   same    in    every 
part  of  the  world.     We  simply  ask  for  permission  quietly 
to  attend  to  our  own  business  in  our  own  way  (cheers). 
We  say,  '  Let  there  be  peace  '  (hear,  hear).     I  declare  we 
want  an  end  to  this  war.     We  want  a    treaty    of   peace 
like  that  treaty  of  peace  which  was    made    by    England 
to  Botha  and  De  Wet  at    Vereeniging,  and    I    say    with 
all  sincerity  to  the  English    people,  all    we    want    under 
the  name  of  Home  Rule  is  as  much  freedom    in    purely 
Irish    affairs    as    they    gave    the    other    day    in    purely 
Transvaal  affairs  to  the  Boers  (cheers).     That  concession 
to  the  Transvaal  turned  the  Boers    from    bitter   enemies 
into  fast  friends,  and,  we  say,  we  in  Ireland  are  prepared 
to  welcome  and    accept,  and    to    work    in    precisely    the 
same  spirit  as  the  Boers,  the  concession  of   Home    Rule 
when    it    comes    to    us    (cheers).     That    is    the    supreme 
issue    for    Irishmen    in    Great    Britain    at    this    election. 
You    never — nor    your    fathers    before    you — never    had 
such    a    chance    as    you     have     now    of   furthering  the 
cause  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland." 


227  15* 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   MAN 

"  ]VI^^  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^  certain  that  the  balance  of  power  in 
the  new  Parliament  will  be  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
John  Redmond  and  his  followers,  it  may  be  as  well  for 
Englishmen  to  study  the  remarkable  utterances  of  that 
not  very  remarkable  man."  Such  was  the  opening 
paragraph  of  an  Evening  News  leader  (Jan.  25,  1910) 
entitled  "  The  two  Mr.  Redmonds."  To  those  who 
know  him  both  politically  and  socially  such  phrases 
only  provoke  a  smile,  for  no  one  is  a  more  consistent 
thinker  than  John  Redmond.  To  the  writer  of  the 
article  John  Redmond  typified  "  Irish  blarney  "  ;  in  point 
of  fact,  there  are  very  few  Irishmen  who  have  more  of 
the  serious  business  instincts  of  the  Englishman  than 
Mr.  Redmond.  In  spite  of  the  many  garbled  quota- 
tions that  are  circulated,  to  anyone  who  has  read  his 
speeches  there  is  far  more  redundancy  in  them  than  con- 
tradiction. Politically,  at  least,  there  is  only  one  John 
Redmond,  but  if  there  are  two,  the  other  ego  is  to  be 
found  in  that    John    Redmond    intime   who    is  almost  as 

hidden    and    unknown,    and    in    some    respects    more    so 

228 


I'linio  1,1,} 


[/.iiiiilon  .'<tt'reosa>pii'  Cu. 


JOHN    REDMOND 


{To  face  p.  228. 


THE   MAN 

than  was  the  inner  Charles  Stewart  Parnell.     This  is  the 
real    John  Redmond,  and  in  him  is  to  be  found  the  ex- 
planation of  the  other.     He  tells  a  story  of  how  Parne 
was    once  asked    what    he    thought    of  one  of  the  newly 
elected  members  of  his  party. 

"  Oh,"  replied  the  chief,  "  a  most  charming  fellow.  I 
dined  with  him  the  other  day  at  his  house.  He's  a 
first-rate  musician,    a  good  host  and  a  splendid  dancer." 

"  Quite  a  valuable  addition  to  the  party,"  was  a 
friend's  reply. 

Parnell's  manner  instantly  changed  from  eulogy  to 
cold  disdain,  and  the  genial  Parnell  became  the  cynical 
chief,  as  with  a  shrug  of  his  shoulders  he  answered — 

"  Oh,  politically  the  fellow's  an  ass  ! " 

I  have  always  thought  that  the  story  would  be  more 
characteristic  of  Redmond  himself,  for  no  one,  I  think, 
understands  better  than  he  the  exact  parliamentary 
value  of  a  man,  and  none  is  more  willing  to  distinguish 
the  genial,  social  friend  from  the  political  opponent.  It 
is  related  of  Gladstone  that  he  returned  from  the  House 
after  the  defeat  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  entirely  im- 
mersed in  the  occupation  of  counting  the  passing  omni- 
buses. John  Redmond  has  the  same  power  of  taking 
his  mind  off  politics.  Once  he  leaves  the  House,  he 
leaves  its  quarrels  and  casts  aside  its  atmosphere  like  a 
cloak.     You  could  hardly  even  tell  he  was  a  politician  at 

all.     When,  for  instance,  Balfour  welcomed  him  back   to 

229 


JOHN   REDMOND 

the  House  in  the  lobby  after  Redmond's  term  of  im- 
prisonment, the  meeting  between  the  two  was  almost 
cordial.  Mr.  Balfour  courteously  inquired  after  the 
other's  health.  The  young  member  as  courteously 
thanked  him  for  the  inquiry,  and  assured  him  that  not 
only  had  "  gaol  life "  left  his  health  unimpaired,  but  it 
had  not  even  changed  his  political  opinions,  and  that  he 
was  perfectly  prepared  to  repeat  the  words — even  with 
the  same  result.  The  smile  of  affability,  however, 
stopped  at  the  Bar  of  the  House. 

This  distinction  between  social  and  political  life  is 
probably  the  reason  why,  to  the  general  reader,  there  is 
no  more  private  public  man,  so  to  speak,  than  Mr. 
Redmond.  He  is  an  unknown  quantity,  even  to  his 
colleagues,  and  he  loves  to  find  rest  in  the  seclusion 
of  home  life.  He  does  not,  for  example,  entertain 
largely  or  go  about  the  centre  of  a  large  professional 
and  social  entourage  like  the  great  Liberator,  leaving 
hundreds  of  stories  and  bans  mots  and  witticisms  in  his 
train.  On  the  contrary,  he  rarely  exerts  himself  to  be 
brilliant  socially,  merely  for  brilliancy's  sake.  The 
biographer  will  have  to  search  almost  in  vain,  as  in 
the  case  of  Parnell,  for  those  personal  touches  that 
reveal  the  actual  inner  man.  He  behaves  for  the  most 
part  rather  like  a  foreign  ambassador :  he  does  not 
breathe  his  secret  even    "  to  his  own  hat,"  and  probably 

he    will   always    remain   something  of  an  enigma    unless 

230 


THE   MAN 

he  should  one  day  choose  to  tell  his  own  story  in  an 
autobiography.  There  are  not  wanting,  however,  a 
thousand  sidelights  upon  his  character  which  help  one 
to  an  estimate  of  the   complete  man. 

As  with  Parncll,  so  with  Redmond,  the  politician  is 
the  man.  But  whereas  Farnell  gained,  Redmond  lost  by 
politics.  Farnell  would  have  remained,  as  his  first  speech 
stamped  him,  a  nonentity  :  Redmond  laid  aside  unused 
great  social  and  professional  qualities  to  become  the 
politician.  It  would  form  an  interesting  speculation  to 
ask  oneself  how  his  undoubted  ability  would  have  de- 
veloped in  a  less  severe  school  than  that  of  Irish  politics. 
Had  he  followed  the  traditions  of  the  maternal  branch 
of  the  family,  he  might  have  become  a  soldier,  like 
General  Hoey,  his  grandfather.  That  stern  and  command- 
ing presence  of  his  :  that  silence  and  seriousness :  that 
power  of  tactics  would  no  doubt  have  placed  him  beside 
that  other  great  Irishman,  the  late  Sir  William  Butler ;  for 
the  two  have  often  been  compared  as  personalities,  both 
being  broad-minded  Catholics,  ardent  patriots  and  lovers 
of  the  Empire.  But  his  father's  influence  seems  to  have 
prevailed,  and  he  became,  therefore,  cut  out  for  one  of 
the  rhetorical  or  pleading  professions.  In  common  with 
most  Irish  boys,  he  thought  at  one  time  that  he  had  a 
religious  vocation,  and  had  he  followed  it  he  would 
undoubtedly  have  become  an  Irish  Jesuit,  for  he  has  the 

greatest  love  of  the  Jesuit  fathers — to  whom,  as  he  says, 

231 


JOHN   REDMOND 

both    his    father,    himself   and    his    son   owe    everything. 

That  earnestness   of  appeal,   that  almost   blind   devotion 

to  a    leader    and    a   cause,    that   clearness   of    judgment 

and  ardour  of    heart,     would    probably    have    made    its 

mark    in  any    Catholic    pulpit,    while   his    courteousness 

of  manner  and  grave  tolerance  would  not  have  ill  suited 

the  purple  of  an  Irish  Cardinal. 

The  second  of  the  great   pleading   professions   was    at 

first    expected  to   be  his   career.     It    is  now   many   years 

since  he  withdrew  his  wig  and  gown  from  the  library  of 

the  Four  Courts  in  Dublin  ;    but  the  long  rows  of  dusty 

Statutes    that    adorn    his    humble    library    show    that    he 

intended    seriously    practising    at    one    time.      For    many 

years,    indeed,    he    did    practise,    but    for    the    most   part 

politics    seem    to   have    absorbed    him.     He   left   Trinity 

before    he   had    taken    his    degree    to   devote    himself   to 

parliamentary   work,    and  he    left    Dublin    before  he  had 

finished    his    full    law   course.      He    had   been  round  the 

world  before  he  was  finally  called  to  the  English  Bar  at 

Gray's  Inn.     During  those  early  years,  between  1887  and 

1893,  the  briefs,    it   may  be   mentioned,   came   in    pretty 

regularly,  and    he    appeared  as    counsel    in    one   notable 

case  in  which  Messrs.  Dillon  and  O'Brien  were  prosecuted 

by  the  Government  for   conspiracy.      But    the   duties   of 

championing    Parnell   which   fell    upon    him,  followed  by 

the    leadership    of    the    Independents,    after    the    chiefs 

death,    compelled    him    to    make    a    choice    between    the 

232 


THE   MAN 

pleasant  duties  of  a  remunerative  career  and  the — shall 
I  call  it  thankless  ? — task  of  politics.  But  if  he  chose 
the  latter  as  a  life  work,  it  was  not  because  he  was  a 
man  of  affluent  means.  It  was  rather  because  of  a 
fervour  for  practical  patriotism,  which  in  him  amounted 
almost  to  a  religion  ;  and  it  is  in  this  that  is  to  be  found 
the  key  to  all  his  life.  He  was  a  patriot  before  he  was  a 
politician  :  he  will  always  be  a  politician,  because  he  will 
always  be  a  patriot. 

Politics  and  religion  with  John  Redmond  are  as 
one,  knit  strong  and  welded  together.  That  is  to 
say,  he  believes  that  if  religion  is  to  mean  anything 
more  than  a  mere  useless  theological  astronomy  to 
mankind  it  ought  to  be  a  motive  force  for  the  better- 
ment of  the  conditions  in  which  men  have  to  live. 
There  can  be  no  more  sacred  thing  than  the  love  of 
one's  country,  and  Nationalism  is  to  him  the  breaking 
down  of  those  obstacles  which  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
natural  development  of  a  race  according  to  its  own 
special  needs  and  genius.  As  in  religion,  so  in  politics. 
He  believes  that  development  must  be  autonomous,  and 
he  as  fiercely  resents  coercion  as  the  freedom-loving 
modern  resents  the  ancient  tortures  of  the  Inquisition. 
Races  do  not  exist  for  an  empire,  but  an  empire  for 
races.  Unity  must  be  synonymous  with  mutual  protec- 
tion, not  with  alien  possession.  And  if  a  reason  is  sought 
for  that  whole-hearted  business  regularity  with  which  he 

233 


JOHN  REDMOND 

devotes  almost  every  hour  to  politics,  it  will  be  found, 
not  in  a  mere  love  of  notoriety — surely  the  most  unre- 
liable stocks  that  ever  man  invested  in ! — but  in  a  profound 
and  unshakable  conviction  that,  in  serving  his  country 
he  is  fulfilling  the  highest  work  a  man  can  perform.  As 
in  many  an  Irish  cottage  the  picture  of  Robert  Emmet 
forms  the  companion  to  that  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  on 
the  domestic  mantelpiece,  so  in  the  heart  of  the  Irish 
leader  religion  and  politics  are  the  twin  principles  that 
rule  his  life. 

In  this  religious  earnestness,  moreover,  is  to  be  found 
the  genesis  of  those  occasional  disloyal  sentiments  of  his, 
those  phrases  which  so  offend  pious  Tory  ears.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  is  no  disloyalist,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
his  loyalty  is  not  of  the  "  Mafeking "  order.  "  Anything 
but  unqualified  loyalty,"  he  wrote  upon  the  Queen's 
visit  to  Dublin,  "would  be  an  insult — anything  else 
would  be  a  lie."  And  if  it  is  true  that  on  April  13th, 
1905 — to  again  quote  the  same  Evening  News  article 
— John  Redmond  said  that :  "  If  he  believed  there  was 
the  smallest  reasonable  chance  of  success  he  would  have 
no  hesitation  in  advising  his  fellow-countrj^men  to  arm 
and  overthrow  the  present  system  by  armed  revolt,"  it 
simply  means  that  he  is  not  one  of  those  who  hold 
that  all  the  liberties  in  the  world  are  not  worth  the 
shedding  of  a  single  drop  of  blood  !  Could  a  man 
conscious  of   his   country's    wrongs  say  less  ?     But  these 

234 


THE   MAN 

are  sentiments  which  are  generally  modified  by  the  next 
sentence,  and  are  rather  a  literary  way  of  emphasizing 
the  seriousness  of  the  wrong  than  an  actual  incitement  to 
revolt.  In  fact,  they  are  often  the  rhetorical  manner  of 
expressing  the  futility  of  arms  ;  but — let  them  stand  by 
themselves — no  English  patriot  could  say  less  were  the 
positions  reversed.  Such  "  indiscretions "  must  not  be 
lightly  passed  over  ;  but  they  must  be  read  objectively. 
And  perhaps  no  better  apology  could  be  cited  for  them 
than  that  which  Mr.  Gladstone  himself  made  for  the  so- 
called  general  "  indiscretions  "  of  Irish  politicians : 

"  I  am  aware  it  may  be  truly  said  there  was  a  time 
when  the  grievous  recollections  and  traditions  of  Ireland, 
the  dreadful  sufferings  and  the  apparent  hopelessness  of 
obtaining  from  Parliament  any  consideration  for  the 
capital  desires  of  Ireland  did  sway  some  men  off  the 
precise  line  of  absolute  wisdom.  And  this  led  some  of 
them  to  use,  from  time  to  time,  expressions  which  I,  for 
one,  have  never  thought  it  necessary  to  treat  as  involv- 
ing moral  delinquency,  and  for  which  I  have  found 
ample  explanation  in  the  conditions  and  the  circum- 
stances under  which  they  spoke,  and  which  stand  in 
most  favourable  comparison  with  the  means  which  had 
been  habitually  employed  by  the  overpowering  might  of 
England  and  by  the  ascendency  party  in  Ireland." 
"  But,"  he  goes  on  to  note,  "  no  more  language  of 
disaffection    towards    this   country    has   been    used    since 

235 


JOHN   REDMOND 

the  door  of  Hope  was  opened."  The  admission  is  both 
just  and  generous,  and  though  it  hardly  applies  to  John 
Redmond,  it  certainly  exhibits  an  attitude  of  mind 
which  is  worthy  of  imitation  :  for  it  will  be  found  that 
there  are  few  expressions  of  the  Irish  leader  which 
have  not  some  objective  justification  and  without  which 
the  whole-hearted  sincerity  of  the  man  would  be  com- 
pletely lost  in  the  picture. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  ardour  of  his  patriotism  is  due 
to  the  literary  development  of  his  character,  for  as  he 
was  a  patriot  before  a  politician,  so  he  was  a  poet 
before  he  was  a  patriot.  Perhaps  some  future  bio- 
grapher may  give  to  the  world  the  contents  of  those 
well-filled  pencilled  notebooks  of  University  days,  but 
politics  are  hardly  a  congenial  school  for  the  Muses,  and 
the  hopes  of  his  old  poetry  master  at  Clongowes  have, 
at  least  in  this  direction,  been  quite  unrealized,  though 
nothing  has  been  more  potent  as  an  inspiration. 
Redmond  is  probably  one  of  the  only  men  from  whom 
the  House  will  stand  poetry.  Unlike  Parnell,  who  only 
quoted  a  verse  once — from  one  of  Moore's  "  Melodies," 
the  line,  in  reference  to  Ireland,  "  First  flower  of  the 
earth  and  first  gem  of  the  sea" — and  then  used  the 
word  "jewel"  for  "gem"! — he  is  always  quoting  lines 
from  Shakespeare,  as,  for  example,  in  the  peroration  to 
his  famous  Home    Rule   speech,    where  he  compared  the 

Bill    to   the    toad    which,    "  ugly   and    venomous,    wears 

236 


THE   MAN 

yet  a  precious  jewel  in  his  head.  "  On  one  occasion  he 
not  only  surprised  the  House  by  reciting  a  whole  stanza 
of  "  Hiawatha,"  but  he  was  himself  surprised  that  the 
House  stood  it :  they  would  have  stood  it  from  very 
few! 

The  reason,  of  course,  is  that  modern  oratory  is  in- 
variably unemotional,  and  Professor  Bell's  old  pupil 
has  something  of  the  old  school  about  him,  which 
has  earned  for  him  the  title  of  "  the  last  of  the 
parliamentary  orators  of  the  line  of  Burke."  But  even 
he  has  not  escaped  the  cynical  influence  of  the  times, 
and  his  latter-day  speeches  read  very  differently  to  those 
with  which  he  was  wont  so  greatly  to  move  his  Austra- 
lian and  New  York  audiences  thirty  years  ago.  Yet 
deep  in  his  mind  there  still  lingers  the  remembrance  of 
those  numberless  passages  from  Shelley  and  Byron  and 
Wordsworth  upon  which  his  soul  browsed  in  the  days 
of  his  youth.  And  often  when  talking  to  this  new 
generation  he  notes  with  regret,  not  to  say  bitterness, 
the  gradual  abandonment  of  poetry  as  a  factor  in  edu- 
cation— an  element  far  more  effective  in  the  building  up 
of  character  than  mathematics,  and  he  would  himself 
probably  find  it  far  easier  to  turn  out  a  very  readable 
volume  of  English  verse  than  pass  the  "  Little  Go,"  were 
he  called  upon  to  do  so. 

He  is  above  all  a  man  of  soul :  he  is  a  Celt   in  mind. 
The  English  spirit  is  too  cold  and  commercial    for   him. 

237 


JOHN   REDMOND 

and  it  is  probably  for  this  reason  that  he  displays 
such  an  uncompromising,  whole-hearted  hostility  to  the 
Anglicizing  of  Irish  thought.  He  is  an  enthusiastic 
Gaelic  Leaguer.  His  own  children  were  taught  Irish. 
He  is  a  keen  admirer  of  Irish  art,  and  a  jealous  upholder 
of  the  distinctiveness  of  Irish  genius.  But  it  is  only 
because  he  believes  there  is  objective  value  in  the  racial 
differences. 

He  has  not  that  extreme  anti-English  bitterness 
which  characterizes  some  Irishmen,  probably  for  the 
same  reason  in  literature  as  in  politics,  that,  as  the 
Irish  sword  has  built  the  Empire,  so  in  like  manner 
Irish  pens  have  taken  their  full  share  in  the  erection 
of  that  proud  empire  of  thought  which  is  known  as 
English  literature.  He  believes  in  Irish  literature,  but 
he  is  not  of  that  movement  which  would  seek  to 
disown  the  tongue  of  Swift,  O'Connell  and  Burke. 
He  is  not  one  of  those  who,  to  use  a  Hiber- 
nianism,  believe  that  Ireland's  future  is  behind  her.  The 
revival  of  Irish  as  a  spoken  language  he  is  in  agreement 
with,  heart  and  soul.  In  the  "  Intermediate  "  examinations 
he  got  it  placed  upon  a  level  with  the  classics,  but  he 
would  be  one  of  the  staunchest  opponents  of  any  attempt 
to  substitute  it  for  the  classics,  much  less  to  extinguish 
root  and  branch  the  hated  Saxon  tongue  in  Ireland. 
His  mind  is  progressive,  not  retrospective,  and  if  he 
returns  to  past  Irish  history  it  is  only  that   none   of  the 

238 


THE   MAN 

gems  of  Irish  genius  should  be  lost  in  Ireland's  con- 
tribution towards  modern  art  and  modern  thought  in 
the  future. 

If,  therefore,  he  is  opposed  to  the  "Anglicizing" 
influences  at  work  in  Dublin  and  other  cities,  it  is 
because  he  recognizes  that  it  is  changing  the  whole 
character  of  the  Irish  race.  He  sees  in  the  spirit  of 
the  "  musical  comedy  "  and  the  "  variety  stage  "  symbols 
of  a  vulgarity  and  lack  of  artistic  sense  which  is  swiftly 
killing  the  soul  of  the  nation  by  extinguishing  all  love 
of  country  and  history.  An  Irish  family  who  prefer  to 
sing  the  latest  English  pantomime  inanities  in  the 
drawing-room  to  the  glorious  Irish  Melodies  of  Moore, 
is  to  him  the  signal  of  that  insidious  advance  of 
decadence  against  which,  as  one  of  the  older  men,  his 
soul  revolts,  and  this  is  only  one  of  the  reasons  he 
thinks  nothing  but  a  native  parliament  and  residential 
aristocracy  can  make  Dublin  and  Ireland  what  it  was 
before  the  Union,  a  centre  of  literary  thought  and 
culture. 

Here,  too,  his  hatred  of  England  is  objective  and  not 
personal.  England,  he  holds,  has  in  many  respects 
inferior  manners  and  ideas.  He  denounces  them.  But 
England  has  also  great  leaders  and  strong  men,  and 
these  he  reverences,  even  as  he  reveres  the  idols  of 
England's  past.  For  example,  there  are  few  Irishmen 
living    who    possess    a    greater    devotion    to    Shakespeare 

239 


JOHN   REDMOND 

than  John  Redmond.  But  he  has  a  tremendous  pride  of 
race,  and  he  feels  that  amid  all  the  sneers  cast  at 
Ireland,  it  is  the  duty  of  Irishmen  to  let  the  merits  of 
their  race  shine  forth  in  every  sphere  of  English  life, 
and  that  is  why  it  is  with  feelings  of  despair  he  sees  the 
abandonment  of  all  those  native  enthusiasms  which  formed 
the  superiority  of  so  many  Irish  statesmen,  poets  and 
soldiers  in  the  past. 

And  no  better  example  could  be  given  of  that 
Irish  capacity  when  placed  on  the  level  of  a  com- 
mon public  life  and  literature  than  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  Oxford  acclaimed  him  at  the  height 
of  his  reputation.  For  at  the  modern  University  they 
regarded  him  much  in  the  same  way  as  the  dons  of  the 
eighteenth  century  would  have  looked  upon  another 
Irishman,  Edmund  Burk»,  the  greatest  of  the  orators  of 
their  day. 

It   was   said    that   many  of  the   academic   critics  were 

prepared  to  question  his  parliamentary  reputation.     John 

Redmond    evidently   rose    to    the   occasion,    for   on   that 

auspicious  visit  to  Oxford    he   by  far   excelled   his  usual 

House  of  Commons  manner.     Indeed  "  The  Champion  of 

Ireland,    in  good    times   and    in  bad,"   as   he   was   called, 

created   a  perfect  furore   even    among    the    most   cynical. 

There   were   storms   of  applause   before   he   had    spoken 

a    single    word,   and   when    the   result   of  the   debate   at 

the   Union   was   announced    the   enthusiasm  was  such  as 

240 


THE   MAN 

had  never  been  seen  before,  and  Tory  Oxford  was  filled 
with  Home  Rule  converts ! 

*'  It  was  a  memorable  debate,"  wrote  the  Oxford 
Magazine,  for  June,  1907.  "  Mr.  Redmond's  speech  was 
thrilling,  and  the  result  of  the  division  sensational.  We 
had  prophesied  that  Mr.  Redmond  would  win,  but  we 
had  thought  of  a  majority  nearer  33  than  133:  such  a 
majority  is  the  highest  compliment  that  could  possibly 
be  paid  to  Mr.  Redmond.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  Union 
has  ever  heard  or  ever  will  hear  again  a  speech  which 
will  have  such  influence  on  its  hearers." 

A  rather  good  estimate  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  W.  M. 
Crook — who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  already  met  him  in 
Dublin  when  they  were  law  students  together  at  the  Inns 
— may  be  included  as  coming  from  another  source,  and 
discounting  what  PuncJi  calls  "  my  Uncleism." 

"  One  of  the  qualities,"  he  wrote,  "  which,  I    think,  has 

brought  Mr.  Redmond  to  his  present  position  is  the  fact 

that  he  is  a  loyal    friend.     One   day,  during    the  General 

Election  of  1886,  I    went    into   the    Irish  headquarters   in 

London,  then  located    in    Palace    Chambers,  Westminster 

Bridge  Road,  to  see  Mr.  J.  T  Clancy  about  a  meeting  I 

was  about  to  address  that  evening.     John   Redmond  was 

there.     '  Look  here,'  he    said    to    me,    '  you    are   the   very 

man  I  want.     George  Russell  has  a  meeting  this  evening 

at  Fulham.     Very  reluctantly  I    was    compelled   to   fight 

against   him    last   year.     I    want   to   do  everything  I  can 

241  16 


JOHN    REDMOND 

to  help  him  to  get  in  this  year.  It  is  quite  impossible 
for  me  to  speak  for  him  to-night.  You  have  only  one 
meeting  and  I  want  you  to  go.' 

"  I  went.  Mr.  Russell,  whom  I  did  not  then  know, 
was  unable  through  indisposition  to  be  present.  His 
place  was  taken  by  his  father,  a  noble  specimen  of  the 
stately,  courteous  English  aristocrat.  As  I  chatted  to 
that  splendid  old  man,  the  soul  of  chivalry  and  honour, 
I  realized  why  John  Redmond  was  so  anxious  for  the 
son's  success.  The  Irish  leader  is  a  supreme  judge  of 
men. 

"  John  Redmond's  capacity  for  loyalty  to  his  friends 
is  second  only  to  his  loyalty  to  his  country.  An 
incident  that  occurred  last  session  illustrates  both  char- 
acteristics. It  was  a  very  busy  session  for  the  Irish 
Party ;  four  days  a  week  the  Irish  leader  was  in  the 
House  for  twelve  hours  a  day,  from  noon  till  midnight. 
Naturally  his  Wednesday  evenings  were  therefore  pre- 
cious. One  of  the  Irish  organizations  in  the  metropolis 
had  asked  me  to  lecture  for  them,  and  they  asked  John 
Redmond  to  preside.  No  other  leader  of  the  party  in 
the  House  of  Commons  worked  so  hard :  none  other 
would  have  come.     But  John  Redmond  came. 

"  The  subject  was  Ireland's  contribution  to  civilization. 

Mr.  Redmond,  who  seemed  rather  wearied,  spoke  only  a 

few   minutes.      But   in    that   brief  space   he   revealed   his 

passionate   admiration    for   the    great    dead    past   of  the 

242 


THE  MAN 

race   of   which    he    was    the  world-wide   figure-head,  the 
uncrowned  king. 

"  There  is  no  mere  apology,  only  burning  pride,  in 
what  John  Redmond  had  to  say  of  the  civilizing 
movement  which  covered  Western  Europe  with  seats  of 
learning  and  which  has  bequeathed  to  after  genera- 
tions artistic  monuments  like  the  matchless  Book  of 
Kells.  He  closed  with  a  few  words  of  hearty  appre- 
ciation for  the  work  the  young  men  are  doing  in  the 
Party  league.  For  John  Redmond  always  appeals  to 
young  men,  alike  to  the  cultured  youth  of  Oxford  and 
the  more  fiery  spirits  of  Mayo  or  Chicago, 

"When  I  first  met  Mr.  Redmond"   (the   fact   is   worth 

noting,  by  the  way)  "  I  was  more  or  less  of  a  Separatist. 

He  made  me  an  Imperialist.     I  do  not  use  the  word  to 

designate    an    admirer    of    the    gorgeous    orientalism   of 

Benjamin    Disraeli,    nor   yet   a   follower   of  the  narrowly 

insular   policy  of  an  uneducated  Birmingham  tradesman. 

John    Redmond    knew   the    Empire.     His    wife    was    an 

Australian,    and  even  when  I  first  met  him  he  had  been 

round    the   world.     The  great  free  communities,  Canada, 

Australia,    New    Zealand,  and   even    the    United    States, 

were   to   him    in    large   part     Irish    estates.     Irish    blood 

and    Irish   brains   had   helped    them    to    freedom    and    to 

prosperity.     It   was   a   new   point   of  view   to    us.     I    do 

not   speak   with   authority,    but     I     do    say    with    some 

confidence    that   never,   while   John    Redmond    is    leader, 

243  16* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

wiH     the    Irish    Party   consent   to   be   deprived    of    their 
rightful    share    in    the   government   of  their   Empire." 

This  last  remark  is  worth  noting  for  the  peculiarly 
new  aspect  in  which  it  places  the  Irish  question  both 
from  an  English  and  an  Irish  point  of  view.  From  an 
English  point  of  view  it  teaches  us  that  in  every  part 
of  the  Empire  another  Ireland  has  arisen,  one  in  heart 
and  sympathy  with  the  Old  Country,  just  as  the  English 
Colonists  are  in  touch  with  England.  Emigration  has 
not  rid  England  of  a  turbulent  population,  like  the 
voluntary  exile  of  Sarsfield.  It  has  merely  trans- 
planted and  spread  the  discontent  into  soil  hitherto 
free  from  it. 

The  Irish  element  in  the  Colonies  is  everywhere  a 
factor  to  be  reckoned  with — municipal  elections  in 
Sydney  are  fought  on  the  Home  Rule  question.  And 
those  who  speak  of  the  loyalty  of  the  Colonies  will  do 
well  to  remember  also  the  independence  of  those  same 
Colonies,  which  is  not  a  little  fostered  and  fanned  by 
the  hereditary  instincts  which  the  children  of  starving 
emigrants  have  brought  over  from  Ireland.  A  politician 
would  perhaps  pass  it  over  in  scorn  ;  not  so  a  states- 
man, and  though  many  may  question  the  fact  of  Lord 
Mountjoy's  statement  (I  think)  that  America  was  lost 
by  Irish  emigrants,  it  is  perfectly  true  that  the  great 
mass    of    Anglophobe    literature    and    sentiment   in    the 

United  States  to-day  is  due  almost  entirely  to  the  Irish 

244 


THE   MAN 

element,    and    the    possible    disloyalty    of  the    Colonies 
might  some  day  come  from  a  like  source. 

At  the  same  time,  from  the  Irish  point  of  view  it 
raises  an  entirely  new  set  of  problems  to  those  raised 
by  what  one  might  term  the  Little  Irelanders,  those 
who  narrow  the  Irish  question  to  the  transformation  of 
College  Green  from  a  commercial  to  a  legislative  centre, 
and  think  that  the  millennium  is  to  arrive  the  day  the 
flag  on  Dublin  Castle  changes  its  colour  to  green.  The 
Home  Rule  question  is  an  Imperial  question,  and  will 
always  remain  so.  If  Grattan  spoke  truly  when  he 
said  "  The  sea  denies  us  union,  but  the  ocean  denies  us 
separation,"  it  is  a  thousand  times  more  true  now  that 
Irish  names  and  Irish  blood  have  mingled  with  every 
English-speaking  race  upon  the  face  of  the  globe  and 
rendered  the  return  of  all  the  emigrants  back  to  Ireland 
a  physical  impossibility,  just  as  the  return  of  the  Jews 
to  Palestine.  Nevertheless,  in  character,  in  thought,  in 
politics,  in  everything,  in  fact,  that  constitutes  nationality 
apart  from  a  geographical  situation,  even  the  most  ex- 
treme patriot  would  never  dream  of  attempting  what,  if 
logically  carried  out,  would  lead  not  only  to  a  separation 
of  the  two  mother  countries,  but  to  a  division  of  every 
commercial  centre  in  England  and  every  colony  abroad. 
A  moderate,  rational  policy  of  Home  Rule  is  the  only 
one  upon  which  it  can  be  hoped  to  found  a  world-wide 
Empire  securely,  and  of  that  moderate  and  rational  policy 

245 


JOHN   REDMOND 

there  is  no  better  and  more  sincere  representative  than 
John  Redmond.  He  alone  of  the  various  sections  of 
Home  Rulers  seems  to  put  forward  a  solution  at  the 
same  time  consistent  with  national  aspirations  and  with 
unalterable  facts. 

A    further   quotation   from    Mr.    Crook   shows   another 
aspect  of  his  character. 

"  Strong  Nationalist  as  he  is,  John  Redmond  has  that 
touch  of  cosmopolitanism  that  is  peculiarly  Irish  and  is 
notably  wanting  in  the  average  Englishman.  A  strict 
puritanical  training  has  prevented  me  from  becoming  a 
frequent  visitor  to  the  theatre ;  on  one  of  the  rare 
occasions  on  which  I  have  broken  through  this  rule  I 
went  to  see  the  '  Divine  Sarah '  play  Hamlet  in  Paris. 
John  Redmond  occupied  the  stall  immediately  behind 
mine.  A  few  days  later  we  met  in  a  carriage  on  the 
Underground  in  London  and  discussed  the  performance. 
No  one  who  has  heard  the  Irish  leader  quote  Shake- 
speare can  ever  forget  it.  As  he  analysed  the  inter- 
pretation by  the  greatest  actress  of  our  time  of 
Shakespeare's  immortal  creation,  or  criticized  the  nuances 
of  the  original  that  had  been  lost  in  translation,  I  was 
compelled  to  say  to  myself,  '  Why,  Hamlet  is  as  real  a 
person  for  you  as  is  Arthur  Balfour.'  This  land 
agitator,  barrister,  politician,  statesman,  whose  eloquence 
had  compelled  the  mother  of  Parliaments  to  an  un- 
willing silence,  had  captivated  the  youth  of  Oxford  and 

246 


THE   MAN 

of  Ireland,  and  on  whose  words  vast  crowds  in  three 
continents  had  hung,  is  a  student  and  interpreter  of 
Shakespeare  greater  than  most  of  our  professors  of 
English  Hterature,  because  he  understands  men. 

"  I  have  written  far  more  than  I  intended  because  it  is 
so  hard  to  convey,  what  is  unintelHgible  to  many,  the 
reason  why  John  Redmond  is  where  he  is.  Fifty  years 
hence  it  will  not  seem,  as  it  does  to-day,  the  language 
of  friendly  exaggeration  to  write  that  politically  John 
Redmond  is  the  lineal  descendant  of  his  great  country- 
man Edmund  Burke.  But  the  passion  for  freedom  and 
the  passion  for  justice  are  the  guiding  stars  of  both." 

There  is  yet  another  estimate  of  the  character  of 
John  Redmond  as  the  successor  of  Parnell  which,  I 
think,  ought  not  to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  For, 
though  expressing  a  view,  perhaps,  at  one  time  partially 
correct,  it  can  no  longer  be  accepted  as  final.  I  refer 
to  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Herbert  Paul. 

Speaking  of  the  fall  of  Parnell,  he  says :    "  It  was  the 

Church  of  Rome  and  no  individual  that  really  succeeded 

Parnell    in    Ireland.       Rome     Rule    came,     not     as    the 

accompaniment  of  Home  Rule,  but  as  the  alternative  to 

Parnellism.     The  Church  of  Rome    neither   forgives   nor 

forgets.       His     (Parnell's)     successor,     a    man     of    great 

parliamentary    capacity,    was    a    Catholic,    one    of   those 

liberal    Catholics    who    had    been    educated    at    Trinity 

College.     But    in    Ireland    Mr.    Redmond's    influence   was 

247 


JOHN   REDMOND 

at  that  time  very    small.     His   own   Church   condemned 

him.     Once    more,    apparently    for    an    indefinite   period, 

tlie  Irish  priest  resumed  his  sway.     How  far  this  change 

or  reaction  was  for  the  better,  and  how  far  for  the  worse, 

it    is    not    the    business    of  a  secular  historian  to  decide. 

Of  the  fact  there  can  be  no  doubt.     Mr.    McCarthy  and 

Mr.    Redmond    were    symbols    of  the  two  powers  which, 

since  the  days  of  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  have  divided 

the   Catholic   world.     In    England    Mr.    McCarthy   would 

have  had  no  chance,  for   a   mere   hint   of  the   revival   of 

priestcraft   would    have    buried   the   divorce    in   oblivion. 

In    Ireland    Mr.    Redmond    was    foredoomed    to    failure. 

So  long  as  he  remained  at  the  head  of  a  group  calling 

itself   Parnellite,    the    priests    could    point    at    him    as    a 

rebel  against  the  authority  of  the  Church,   the  principles 

of  religion  and  the  sanctity  of  the  home." 

The  criticism  is  not  without  foundation,  but,  though  it 

is  true  that  during  the  years  of  the  split  this  description 

of    the    attitude    of    Mr.    Redmond     might     have    b^n 

correct,  it  is  the  very  reverse  to-day,  for  the  anti-clerical 

Press  speaks  of  him  as  the  "  priest's  man  "  par  excellence. 

But    it    is    rather    the    clergy    who    have    changed.      The 

truth  is  that  he  is  above  all    things  a    layman,    and    that 

he    seeks,    as    a    politician,    to    establish    the    two    orders 

each     in     its    proper    sphere    of    independence.      He    has 

been  accused    and    acclaimed    as    a    second    O'Connell,    a 

second    Clemenceau ;    in   truth   he  is   neither,     O'Connell 

248 


THE   MAN 

would  have  headed  an  enthusiastic  deputation  of  Irish 
members  at  the  London  Eucharistic  Congress  ;  Clemen- 
ceau  would  have  written  "  Paraguay  on  Shannon."  John 
Redmond  did  neither,  and  during  the  whole  controversy 
which  raged  round  the  Education  Bills,  though  assuring 
the  English  Catholics  of  every  protection,  he  is  always 
very  careful  not  to  compromise  the  political  ideals  of  the 
party  which  he  leads,  which  are  absolutely  unsectarian 
while  retaining  religion  in  its  sphere  of  individualism — 
protected  from  bigotry  and  injustice. 

In  religion  he  is  himself  a  strict  Roman  Catholic,  and 
when  in  London,  every  Sunday  he  is  to  be  seen  at  Mass 
at  the  church  in  Kensington  High  Street.  Whenever 
any  measure  of  practical  Catholic  importance  is  before 
Parliament  he  is  always  spokesman.  If  there  is  a  ques- 
tion of  altering  the  King's  Declaration,  there  are  few 
more  keen  than  he,  or  if,  as  in  1903,  some  Benedictine 
monks  are  expelled  from  France  and  all  their  goods 
confiscated,  they  may  be  confident  of  finding  in  John 
Redmond  a  champion  who  can  defend  them,  or  any 
other  Catholic  interests,  with  a  strong  hand.  But  there 
is  nothing  of  the  theologian  about  him,  and  when  he 
speaks  for  Catholics  in  the  House  of  Commons,  it  is 
rather  as  one  urging  the  great  political  maxim  of  fair 
play  against  the  ultra-Protestant  prejudice  of  some  bigot, 
than  as  an  exponent  of  dogma  or  doctrine.  The  in- 
tellectual side  of  Catholicism  is  to  him  an  absolute  blank 

249 


JOHN   REDMOND 

He  is  far  too  peremptory  and  practical  in  mind  to  be  able 
to  appreciate  those  niceties  of  thought,  those  shades  of 
meanings,  those  clashings  of  dogmas,  those  contradictions 
between  religion  and  science,  which  make  Catholicism  a 
philosophy.  There  is  more  of  the  Roman  than  the 
Greek  about  him.  For  example,  quite  apart  from  an 
aesthetic  love  of  the  general  contour  and  appearance 
of  the  Church,  he  would  have  nothing  in  common  with 
Wilfrid  Ward  or  Dr.  Barry :  while  the  philosophical  or 
psychological  side  of  the  great  problems  on  the  foun- 
dations of  religious  thought,  such  as  Tyrrell  treated  of, 
are  to  him  an  unknown  quantity.  Newman  he  admires 
for  the  general  principles  laid  down,  say,  for  example, 
on  University  education  or  political  economy,  and 
quotations  will  be  found  in  his  speeches  anent  that  very 
remarkable  man.  Manning,  too,  would  also  find  an 
ardent  admirer  in  him,  because  of  his  broad  Irish  and 
human  sympathies  ;  but  perhaps  the  fervid  eloquence  of 
Father  Tom  Burke  would  be  his  favourite.  He  looks 
upon  the  Church  as  a  great  organism  which,  from  the 
sacredness  of  its  purpose  and  the  sanctity  of  its  officials, 
deserves  the  respect  and  reverence  of  the  layman,  and 
he  leaves  all  questions  of  doctrine  and  discipline  to 
those  experts  ;  and  he  is  typically  Irish  in  condemnation 
of  all  breaches  of  Church  discipline. 

In  home  life  and  in  his  tastes  generally  he   is   a   man 

of  frugal    habits.     He    cares   not   for   the   ostentation    of 

250 


THE   MAN 

public  life,  and  when  once  he  can  retire  from  the 
searchlight  and  the  stage  of  action,  he  loves,  like  Parnell, 
to  spend  the  days  in  peace  and  tranquillity,  free  from 
the  thousand  and  one  annoyances  that  beset  a  man  in 
his  position.  His  chief  sport  is  grouse  shooting,  and  he 
still  keeps  up  the  genial  house  parties  at  Parnell's  old 
shooting  lodge  at  Aughavanagh — one  of  the  old  barracks 
which  were  built  shortly  after  '98  as  a  sort  of  military 
cordon  round  the  Wicklow  Hills,  which  afforded  them 
ample  security  from  the  rebels.  The  main  block  is  still 
in  a  state  of  good  preservation,  the  wings  are  almost  in 
ruins  ;  but  the  situation  is  magnificent  and  the  place 
literally  breathes  legends,  while  the  old  prison,  the  loop- 
holes and  small  fortifications  surmounting  the  earth- 
works, and  the  secret  passage  which  gives  a  hollow  ring 
all  down  the  centre  of  the  lawn  till  it  emerges  among 
the  brambles  of  a  hedge  outside  the  walls,  serve  to  add 
an  air  of  romance  to  it  and  greatly  interest  the  many 
Americans,  Australians,  and  others  who  make  up  the 
August  or  winter  parties. 

There,  surrounded  by  his  family,  he  spends  the 
summer  months,  recruiting  his  health  after  the  long  toil 
of  the  past  session  and  preparing  for  the  next.  The 
days  are  generally  spent  upon  the  hills,  while,  in  the 
evening,  a  quiet  hour  with  his  books,  or  perhaps  a 
genial  fireside  conversation,  will  occupy  him,  with  some- 
times billiards  or  some  other  indoor  game    for   the   sake 

251 


JOHN   REDMOND 

of  the  more  youthful  members  of  the  party.  Or,  again, 
perhaps  Mrs.  Redmond  may  prevail  upon  her  husband 
to  recite  some  of  the  many  passages  from  his  favourite 
authors.  And  in  this  he  is  inimitable,  for  Mr,  Redmond 
has  been  an  accomplished  reciter  since  his  college  days, 
and  is  never  tired  of  urging  upon  the  younger  generation 
the  importance  of  effective  delivery,  as  well  as  the 
beauty  of  the  old  school  of  Irish  poets  of  the  day  of 
Moore  or  Davis. 

His  strenuous  London  life  leaves  but  scant  time  for 
such  recreations.  But  if  there  is  anything  of  interest  on 
the  London  stage,  any  Friday  or  Saturday  may  see 
him  with  his  wife  in  the  stalls  of  a  theatre.  Generally 
the  finer  mornings  are  spent  riding  in  the  Park,  and 
Mr.  Redmond  is  a  well-known  figure  in  the  Row.  But 
as  soon  as  the  House  meets  the  Irish  leader  is  in  his 
place,  if  he  has  not  been  already  a  couple  of  hours  at 
Westminster  over  some  private  party  business.  The 
week-ends  are  often  spent  out  of  London,  while  the 
shorter  holidays,  such  as  Easter  or  Whitsuntide,  are 
sometimes  spent  abroad,  in  Germany,  Italy,  France  or 
Egypt. 

John    Redmond    has    married    twice,  and    he  loves  his 

home    and     his    family.     He    has    three    children.     The 

eldest,  a  daughter,  Esther,  was  married  about  two  years 

ago    to    a    promising     young    New    York     doctor,    Mr. 

W.    Power.       His     second     daughter,    Johanna,    is    ver}^ 

252 


THE   MAN 

accomplished  and  possesses  a  facile  pen.  A  few  years 
ago  she  produced  privately  one  of  her  plays  in  London 
and  no  doubt  some  of  her  more  mature  work  will  see 
the  boards  of  the  new  Irish  Theatre  in  Abbey  Street, 
Dublin.  Like  her  father,  and  like  his  sister,  the  late 
Mrs.  Howard,  she  has  a  pronounced  poetic  sense,  and 
her  poems  are  occasionally  to  be  seen  in  the  Irish- 
American  and  Australian  Press,  as  also  are  her  clever 
short  stories. 

His  only  son,  William,  is  now  arrived  at  man's  estate. 
He  passed  through  the  Royal  University  of  Ireland 
and  is  at  the  present  moment  completing  his  education 
for  the  Irish  Bar.  When  my  mother  died,  leaving 
me  an  orphan,  I  was  taken  into  his  house  as  one 
of  his  own  children,  with  a  kindness  and  magnanimity 
which  did  for  me  all  that  a  father  could  have  done 
for  the  education  of  his  own  son.  and  never  in  the  merest 
detail,  whether  in  college  pocket-money  or  in  the  numbers 
of  riding  lessons,  was  the  least  distinction  made  between 
me  and  my  cousin,  and  I  have  always  retained,  after 
these  many  years,  the  pleasant  memory  of  that — "  What- 
ever Willie  has,  Louis  must  have  too,"  as  one  of  the 
most  charming  personal  touches  which  revealed  to  me 
the  essential  note  of  justice  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  his 
character.  And  though  it  is  a  strange  metamorphosis 
by  which  one  comes  to  look  upon  a  man  who  stood 
in  loco  parentis  purely  from  a  political  and  literary  stand- 

253 


JOHN   REDMOND 

point,  perhaps  it  is  not  without  value  in  a  personal 
estimate  like  this,  which,  provided  one  has  been 
sufficiently  mentally  weaned  to  distinguish  the  parental 
from  the  intellectual  faculties,  must  gain  at  least  in 
completeness  of  outlook. 

But  even  in  home  life,  though  there  was  always  a  cer- 
tain relaxation,  there  ever  remained  that  predominant 
note  of  almost  military  sternness. 

Redmond  was  described  the  other  day  by  Frank  Dil- 
not  as  one  of  the  most  serious  men  in  the  House  and 
one  whom  he  had  never  heard  make  a  joke.  Such  a 
description,  of  an  Irishman  without  a  sense  of  humour, 
amounts  almost  to  an  accusation  ;  but  it  is  quite  true. 
Redmond  is  too  sincere  and  in  earnest  to  be  gifted  with 
any  very  strong  sense  of  humour.  His  brother,  William, 
is  one  of  the  wits  of  the  House,  with  his  never-ending 
questions  and  incisive  asides.  But  the  picture  of  John 
Redmond  in  one  of  the  smoking-rooms  surrounded  by 
a  group  of  laughing  Liberals  and  Conservatives  would  be 
hard  to  conceive.  He  has  none  of  that  hilarious  joviality 
of  the  proverbial  Pat.  He  cannot  with  serious  and 
almost  tragic  tone  keep  the  House  in  roars,  like  Mr. 
Healy  ;  but  his  comparison  of  Lord  Rosebery  to  the 
Duke  of  Plaza  Toro,  and  the  comparison  of  Mr.  Healy 
to  the  excommunicated  political  Jackdaw  of  Rheims,  is 
not  without  a  touch  of  the  Celt !  For  the  most  part, 
however,    the    humour     is     unconscious,    as     when,     for 

254 


THE   MAN 

example,  he  turned  upon  an  interrupting  laugh  with  the 
words,  "  I  hear  the  honourable  member  smile,"  or  when 
some  rather  complicated  metaphor  gets  entangled,  as 
when  he  once  remarked  that,  "  Though  the  leaf  might 
be  torn  from  the  annals  it  would  still  bear  fruit ! "  or, 
again,  when,  by  the  merest  lapsus  lingua;,  in  the  middle 
of  a  panegyric  on  the  heroism  of  the  two  Boer  republics, 
in  a  tone  of  passionate  entreaty  for  mercy,  he  suddenly 
electrified  the  House  by  calling  them  *'  Grey-bearded  old 
burglars  " — instead  of  burghers.  But  he  is  not  imper- 
vious to  wit. 

He  enjoys  as  much  as  anyone  the  sayings  and  bons 
mots  of  Father  Healy  of  Bray,  or  the  weekly  Punch, 
but  for  the  most  part  it  is  the  wit  of  Dickens  or 
the  "  Ingoldsby  Legends,"  or  Gilbert  and  Sullivan's 
operas  which  he  respects.  There  are  few,  probably, 
who  enjoy  the  Rivals  or  the  School  for  Scmidal  more 
than  he — and  he  will  often  read  the  whole  play  aloud  on 
a  winter's  evening,  surrounded  by  his  family.  The  wit 
of  Charles  Lever,  Samuel  Lover,  the  boisterous  stage 
Irishman  with  "green  whiskers  and  a  pig,"  is  to  him 
painful,  because  nothing  has  done  more  than  such  writers' 
exhibitions  to  degrade  the  Irish  character  in  the  eyes  of 
public  opinion.  But  he  loves  the  charming  repartee  of 
the  Irish  peasant  and  will  listen  with  a  kind  of  pride 
of  race  to  the  brilliant  flashes  that  will  illuminate  the 
peasant's  narrative  as  compared  with  that  of  the  average 

255 


JOHN   REDMOND 

English  farmer.  But,  on  the  whole,  there  is  no 
gainsaying  the  fact  that  Mr.  Redmond  is  abnormally- 
serious. 

As  to  his  resemblance  to  his  brother,  I  must  confess 
I  have  never  seen  two  men  more  absolutely  dissimilar. 
The  one  is  silent,  reserved,  calculating  and  consistent ; 
the  other  conversational,  spontaneous  and  impulsive  in 
policy.  The  House,  in  question  time  and  in  witty  inter- 
ruptions and  asides,  counts  the  younger  brother  as  one 
of  its  characters :  the  elder  brother  but  seldom  speaks, 
however,  and  never  jokes. 

Hence,  when  upon  Queen  Victoria's  visit  to  Dublin 
the  illustrated  papers  circled  round  the  smoking-rooms  of 
the  House,  showing  Mr.  Willie  Redmond's  hall  door 
painted  in  the  colour  and  design  of  a  gorgeous  Union 
Jack,  and  told  of  the  scores  of  tourists  in  cars  continually 
driving  up  to  see  these  phenomenal  decorations,  the 
humour  of  the  situation  was  enjoyed  by  everyone  know- 
ing the  man  ;  it  would  have  lost  half  its  point  had  it 
been  played  on  his  brother.  There  is  often  more  ardour 
than  argument  in  the  younger  Redmond's  speeches :  in 
those  of  his  brother  there  is  often  far  more  suppressed 
emotion  than  visible  expression.  Again,  the  style  of 
diction  as  well  as  the  mode  of  delivery  are  more 
declamatory  in  the  one,  more  objective  and  reasoned  in 
the  other.     At  the  same  time,  there  is  in  both  the  same 

sense  of  patriotism,  the  same  religious  fervour,  the   same 

256 


THE   MAN 

hatred  of  English  misrule  :  the  only  difference  being  that 
in  one  it  is  more  developed  through  sentiment,  in  the 
other  more  intellectual  ;  and  the  characteristics  which 
distinguished  them  as  boys  still  stamp  them  as  men, 
and  in  this  they  are  not  untypical  of  the  two  classes  of 
Irishmen. 

What,  then,  to  sum  up,  can  we  say  distinguishes  the 
man  ?  Wherein  lies  his  power  ?  In  the  first  place,  the 
man  distinguishes  the  leader  from  the  former  leaders. 
He  is  to  a  great  extent  similar,  to  a  great  extent 
dissimilar,  to  the  former  leaders.  His  policy  is  the 
same,  his  personality  different.  He  has  not  the  same 
florid-fierce  oratory  of  the  Liberator :  he  has  more  of 
the  quiet  persuasiveness  of  Butt.  He  has  all  the 
hatred  of  English  misrule  of  Grattan,  without  any  of 
the  personal  bitterness  of  Parnell.  He  controls  with 
power  and  dexterity  the  organizations  that  made  Parnell 
supreme,  without  having  the  originality  of  mind  that 
created  him.  He  is  a  Catholic  Hke  O'Connell,  but  he 
has  all  the  broad-mindedness  of  Protestant  Grattan. 
He  has  all  the  power  of  the  priests  behind  him, 
without  being  himself  their  tool :  for  like  Parnell 
before  him,  he  believes  in  the  limits  of  clerical  power. 
He  has  all  the  polished  manners  of  Isaac  Butt  without 
any  of  his  weakness.  He  may  not  inspire  the  same 
enthusiasm  that  brought  thousands  upon  thousands  to 
hear    the    speeches    of   the    Liberator   round    the    Hill    of 

257  17 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Tara :  but  he  has  probably  wider  knowledge  of  the 
world  than  any  of  his  predecessors  and  has  received  the 
welcome  of  the  scattered  Gaels  from  many  more  lands. 
He  uses  the  agitation  necessary  to  make  him  a  power, 
without  any  of  the  ostentation  that  would  merely  make 
him  a  danger. 

The  secret  of  his  power  lies  probably  in  his  sense  of 
moderation  in  thought  and  self-restraint  in  action,  com- 
bined with  an  impenetrable  personality  which  has  only 
to  be  seen  to  be  respected.  In  fact,  there  are  probably 
few  Irishmen  who  have  impressed  the  House  more  with 
their  absolute  sincerity  and  unquestioned  capability — 
and  as  a  man  he  is  probably  more  liked  than  any  of 
his  predecessors.  There  is  a  certain  "  Englishness  "  about 
him  which  appeals  to  the  more  sober-minded.  He  uses 
words  in  a  rational  sense  and  is  never  carried  away  by 
waves  of  emotion.  He  is  no  business  man,  but  he  has 
all  those  qualities  which  would  have  created  one  :  he 
is  no  enthusiast,  but  he  has  all  those  passions  which, 
if  less  regulated,  would  have  made  him  one :  and  this 
is  what  the  House  respects. 

A  good  picture  is  given  by  Mr.  Frank  Dilnot. 

"  Banish  from  your  mind,  in  thinking  of  Mr.  Red- 
mond, the  picture  of  the  carelessly-dressed,  merry 
Irishman,  with  a  strong  brogue  and  a  merry  quip  for 
any   situation.     Here  is   a   stern  man  between   fifty  and 

sixty   years   of  age,   perfectly   dressed,    carrying  himself 

258 


THE   MAN 

with  the  dignity  of  a  Gladstone.  An  Irishman's  fun 
may  lurk  deep  within  Mr.  Redmond's  breast,  but  it  is 
not  observable.  From  his  appearance  he  might  be  a 
well-to-do  City  man  who  will  stand  no  nonsense.  It 
is  quite  obvious  that  he  is  not  a  person  with  whom 
the  frivolous  could  jest  with  impunity :  he  carries  the 
air  of  the  grand  statesman  of  the  past  generation." 

His  power  rests,  like  Parnell's,  in  a  certain  aloofness 
of  disposition  and  a  hauteur  of  mind.  He  is  open  to 
conviction,  but  once  he  has  made  up  his  mind  it  is 
like  the  steeling  of  iron :  he  does  not  argue,  he  insists. 
He  does  not  submit  an  academic  thesis,  he  imposes 
terms.  He  will  not  be  led  astray  among  the  side 
issues  of  dispute :  he  retains  the  central  idea  of  the 
proposition.  He  does  not  talk  often  or  waste  his  time 
over  trifling  points,  so  that  when  he  rises  to  speak  the 
House  knows  there  is  something  it  ought  to  hear. 

Above  all,  he  knows  the  House  perfectly.  He  knows 
its  moods  and  its  men.  He  does  not  pin  his  faith  to 
Governments  ;  but  he  does  believe  in  the  members  as 
a  body.  This  is  probably  why  it  has  been  said  that 
organization  and  opportunity  have  been  the  two  things 
in  his  mind  for  a  generation.  He  has  played  a  chess- 
man's game  trying  to  keep  his  party  together  among 
themselves  and  with  their  electorate,  and  has  struck 
blow  after  blow  at  opportune  moments.     He  knows  the 

limits    of  the   concessions    of  Cabinets,  and    when    they 

259  17* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

have  been  reached  no  simple  gratitude  will  make  him 
keep  them  in  office.  Neither  the  Local  Government 
Act  of  Balfour  nor  the  Land  Transfer  Act  of  Wynd- 
ham  were  accounted  unto  them  for  righteousness  when 
the  Unionist  party  had  reached  their  end.  He  knows  the 
value  of  a  lobby  conversation  with  eighty  votes  in  his 
pocket,  but  perhaps  the  best  tribute  to  his  capacities  is 
the  position  which  he  holds  to-day  and  the  position  to 
which  he  has  raised  Home  Rule.  He  is  a  strong  indi- 
vidualist while  at  the  same  time  condemning  indi- 
vidualism. He  believes  one  brain  should  actuate  one 
organism,  not  because  he  believes  in  that  modern 
dogma,  the  infallibility  of  majorities,  so  much  as  because 
he  believes  in  their  practical  efficacy ;  and  if  at  the  pre- 
sent time  he  condemns  the  attitude  of  opposition  taken 
up  by  Messrs.  O'Brien  and  Healy,  it  is  only  because 
their  attitude  saps  the  very  foundations  of  that  strength 
and  power  which  a  united  nation  confers  upon  its 
leader. 


260 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   MAN    AND   HIS   METHODS 

^TTHEN    every    other    form    of   argument    against    the 

demands   of  the    Irish    leader   fail,    people    usually 

have    recourse    to    a    denunciation    of   his    tactics,  and  so 

his  tactics  often  occupy  a  more  prominent  place  in  public 

criticism  than  either  his  objects  or  their  motives.     Hence 

no  sketch  of  the  man  could  be  complete   which   did    not 

contain  at  least   an   outline   of  the    methods   with   which 

his  name  is  not  unjustly  identified.     The  reason    for   the 

attack  is  probably  that  most  people  look  upon  Parliament 

as  a  kind  of  debating  society  instead  of  looking  upon  it 

as    it    really    is,  merely    as    an    arena    in    which    political 

battles    are    fought     by     every     form     of     constitutional 

weapons.     And  John  Redmond,  as  essentially  a  practical 

politician,  understands  this  better  than  anyone,  for  it  is  one 

of  the  first  lessons  that  an   Irish  leader  has  to  learn. 

Logic    no   more   rules   the   House   of  Commons  than   it 

rules  the  world.     Every  politician  has  faced  the  fact,  and 

that    is    why    Irish    political    history    is    one    monotonous 

reiteration     of    the    watchwords — organization,    agitation, 

and    obstruction.     For    of    spontaneous    redress   of   Irish 

261 


JOHN   REDMOND 

grievances  no  one  has  ever  heard,  as  Sydney  Smith  used 
to  say ;  hence  the  Irish  attitude  is  only  the  necessary 
result  of  the  English  attitude,  just  as  the  actions  of  the 
French  Revolution  must  be  explained  in  the  light  of  the 
ancien  regime. 

John  Redmond,  were  he  to  write  a  treatise  on  the 
ideal  parliament,  would  no  doubt  paint  it  as  a  delibera- 
tive assembly.  But  finding  himself  always  confronted 
with  a  chronic  ignorance  on  Irish  affairs  only  equalled 
by  a  chronic  indifference  to  the  Irish  demands,  his  only 
course  is  to  compel  legislation.  Were  this  not  the  case, 
the  Irish  party  might  be  a  school  of  experts,  sitting  in 
London  to  answer  inquiries ;  as  the  case  stands,  the  Irish 
leader  has  to  make  it  into  the  most  effective  fighting 
force  constitutionally  possible,  and  in  this  he  has 
succeeded  from  the  first  moment  of  his  leadership ;  for 
in  point  of  discipline,  organization  and  political  capacity 
there  is  probably  no  party  in  the  House  that  can 
compare  with  it,  and  certainly  no  leader  who  occupies 
such  an  absolute  position.  How  that  position  was 
achieved,  how  it  is  maintained  in  its  present  strength,  is 
the  story  of  John  Redmond's  methods,  which,  in  point 
of  fact,  were  the  methods  of  every  one  of  the  Irish 
leaders  before  him. 

To    begin    with,  an    Irish    leader    has    two    battles    to 

fight :    the    one    with    political    parties    in    the    House   of 

Commons,    the    other    with    public    opinion    outside     it. 

262 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

And  perhaps  none  of  John  Redmond's  predecessors  have 
ever  accomplished  this  herculean  task  in  the  complete 
manner  in  which  he  has  done.  Certainly  none  of  them 
have  preached  the  Irish  cause  in  so  many  continents,  or 
ever  held  the  position  of  a  dictatorship  so  absolute  over 
English  political  parties. 

So  far  as  his  own  political  principles  are  concerned,  he 
is  perfectly  explicit  and  logical.  He  is  a  Parnellite 
through  and  through,  and  perhaps  his  speech  at  Mary- 
borough, in  October,  1900,  gives  as  good  an  analysis  of 
his  "  creed  "  as  any  he  has  ever  made. 

"  My    guiding     principle     in     public    life    is    perfectly 

simple,"    he   said.     "  I   have   no   faith,  and    never  had,  in 

any  English  political    party.     I  have  no  faith,  and  never 

had,  in    English   benevolence    towards    Ireland.       I    have 

no  faith,  and  never  had,    in  the   possibility    of  any  class 

of    our      population     getting     justice     in     the     smallest 

particular   for   mere   reason  or    argument    or    persuasion. 

No !    we  have   never    got    anything,   from    the    days    of 

O'Connell    down    to   to-day,   without   labour   or   suffering 

or  sacrifice   on  our  part,  or  without  making  a  movement 

dangerous    and    menacing   towards  England.      My   own 

principle     in     public     life    is,   therefore,    to    make    every 

department    of  Government,    from    the    highest     to    the 

lowest,    from  the   Chief   Secretary    in    his   back    room    in 

Dublin     Castle     down     to     the     land     grabber    and     the 

bailiff  in  the    country    town,   hard   and  dangerous.     That 

263 


JOHN   REDMOND 

has   always   been    my   principle    in    public    life.       I    have 

made  no  disguise  of  it.     I    have   said    it   over    and    over 

again    in    the    House    of  Commons. 

"  You     people    of    the     Queen's     County    want     land 

reform,"  he  continued.     "  You  want  reform  for  tenants  in 

towns.      You    want    a    Catholic    University.      You   want 

justice  for  the  labourer  in    town  and  country.      You  will 

get  none  of  these  things,  not  the  very  smallest  of  them, 

until  you  make  yourself  a    trouble  and  a  danger    to    the 

English  Government  in  your  country.       How   to  do  that 

is    largely    a    matter    for    yourselves.       Someone    spoke 

here    of   crime    and    outrage.      Why,    crime    and  outrage 

don't     make     you      dangerous      to     England ;     on     the 

contrary,    crime    and     outrage     play     directly     into    the 

hands   of  your   enemies.     They  constitute  a    justification 

before    the   whole    world    for    any     repressive     measures 

that    may   be   adopted  :    but    so    long  as   you   keep  your 

hands    unstained    by    anything    in    the    nature    of   crime 

against    the    laws    of   God — I    speak    not    of  the    law   of 

the   land,  because    most    of  it    is    bad    and    ought    to  be 

broken — but  so  long  as  you  keep  your    hands    unstained 

by  crime  against  the  laws  of  God,  and    as    long    as    you 

mak«  your  movement  a  power  in  Ireland  and    a    danger 

every  night  and    every    day  in    the  year  to    the    British 

Government,    so    long    will    you    have    some    chance    of 

obtaining    some    remedy    of   some    sort,  at    any   rate,  for 

your  grievances." 

264 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

This  speech,  taken  by  itself,  might  earn  John  Redmond 
the  title  of  Agitator  :  but  he  is  something  more,  for  he 
is  an  organizer  as  well  and  the  captain  of  a  party 
whose  very  soul  is  organization.  It  is  organized  in  its 
election,  it  is  organized  in  its  direction,  it  is  organized 
in  its  action  :  and  it  is  this  fact  that  makes  John 
Redmond's  position  in  the   House  so  peculiar. 

The  following  passage,  taken  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  James 
O'Donovan  on  the  election  of  an  Irish  member,  may  serve 
to  illustrate  my  meaning  ("  Daily  Mail  Year  Book  ") : 

"  The  manner  in  which  Nationalist  candidates  in 
Ireland  are  selected  differs  entirely  from  the  method 
pursued  in  England.  When  an  election  is  announced  in 
Ireland  a  convention  is  summoned  in  the  constituency 
by  the  National  Directory  of  the  United  Irish  League 
in  Dublin.  At  this  convention  clergymen  of  all  denomi- 
nations in  the  constituency  are  entitled  to  attend  as 
ex-officio  delegates ;  the  elective  bodies  in  whose 
jurisdiction  the  constituency  lies  are  empowered  to  send 
representatives  in  fixed  proportions,  and  other  branches 
of  the  United  Irish  League,  the  Land  and  Labour 
Association  (composed  of  agricultural  labourers),  and 
one  or  two  other  Nationalist  organizations.  Before  the 
name  of  a  candidate  can  be  put  to  a  vote  in  the  Con- 
vention, he  must  sign  a  pledge  '  to  sit,  act,  and  vote 
with    the     Irish     Parliamentary    party.'       The    candidate 

who  has  a  clear  majority    of   votes    becomes    the   official 

265 


JOHN   REDMOND 

candidate  of  the  party,  and  the  party  funds  bear  the 
entire  expenses  in  case  of  a  contest. 

"  Under  such  a  system  no  '  nursing '  of  a  constituency 
is  necessary  or  possible.  The  candidate's  expenses  are 
paid  for  him,  and  when  elected,  he  receives,  if  neces- 
sary, a  modest  allowance  from  the  parliamentary  fund, 
said  to  be  £^  a  week,  with  the  liability  to  reduction 
for  absence  from  the  House  after  having  been  duly 
summoned  by  a  Whip.  The  General  Election  in  1900 
did  not  cost  the  Nationalist  party  quite  ;^4,ooo." 

Of  the  organization  of  direction  the  United  Irish 
League  is  also  the  keystone,  and  in  addition  to  the 
selection  of  individual  candidates,  it  also  acts  as  their 
guide  in  a  body,  the  policy  of  the  party  being  decided 
in  the  Conventions,  so  that  from  a  purely  political  point 
of  view  it  may  be  said  to  be  the  most  representative 
in  the  world,  since  it  is  always  going  to  the  country. 
And  so  effective  has  it  proved  as  a  political  weapon, 
that,  in  the  mouth  of  the  party's  opponents,  it  has 
become  a  positive  danger  to  the  nation.  With  how 
much  truth  may  be  seen  from  the  leader's  own 
words, 

"  For   my   part,"    he   said,  in  April,   1900,  shortly  after 

his   election   as    chairman,     "  I    desire   to  see   the  United 

Irish    League    spread  over   the   whole    of   Ireland,    many 

enemies   though     it     may   have.     There    are    many    who 

think    it    the    League    of    one     man.      Now    let    me    say 

266 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

that  I,  for  one,  would  not  touch  any  organization  that 
is  to  be  the  property  of  any  one  man,  and  this  League, 
if  it  spreads  through  Ireland,  as  I  hope  it  will,  will  be 
the  property  of  no  man  or  set  of  men :  it  will  be  the 
property  of  the  people."  Moreover,  for  fear  of  its  being 
thought  an  official  organization  in  the  hands  of  one  man, 
to  the  detriment  of  all  individual  action,  he  added  : 
"  My  first  duty  to  Ireland,  in  my  opinion,  is  to  preserve 
the  union  that  has  been  created,  and  it  requires  inex- 
haustible patience  upon  my  part,  and  a  desire  to  con- 
ciliate every  man  who  differs  from  me,  and  a  desire 
to  give  way  in  this  direction  and  in  that  in  order 
to  preserve  discipline  and  unity ;  for  I  believe  in  con- 
ciliation,  and  I  believe,  as  Parnell  said  in  every  sense 
of  politics,  in  the  spirit  of  compromise." 

But  this  compromise  must  not  extend  to  absolute 
chaos  of  principle,  and  hence,  though  personally  John 
Redmond  might  try  to  co-operate  with  others,  he  stands 
officially  by  the  organization  once  it  has  adopted  a 
policy  of  its  own,  and  will  allow  no  other  organization 
to  clash  with  it.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  when,  in 
1909,  several  new  organizations  made  their  appearance, 
he  wrote  to  the  Press  warning  the  country  of  the 
danger  of  a  split  and  saying  that  "  The  Irish  party, 
all  of  whose  members  are  bound  by  pledge  to  act  to- 
gether outside  as  well  as  inside  the  House  of  Commons, 

and    the    United    Irish    League   are     the   only   authorized 

267 


JOHN   REDMOND 

organizations   seeking   to   obtain    Home    Rule   by  consti- 
tutional means." 

Of  the  organization  of  action,  the  constitution  of  the 
party  itself  is  the  best  example,  for  it  is  not  enough 
to  create  a  party  without  being  able  to  use  it  ;  hence 
John  Redmond,  when  a  movement  to  discredit  its 
utility  had  arisen  in  Ireland,  found  it  his  duty  to  lay 
plainly  before  the  country  the  essentials  of  the  party 
system. 

Speaking  at  Ballybofey,  in  Donegal,  on  the  29th  of 
August,  1907,  he  thus  spoke  of  the  National  movement 
and  its  needs  : 

"  A  parliamentary  party  representing  Ireland  in  the 
British  Parliament  is  as  necessary — from  some  points 
of  view  is  more  necessary  to-day  than  at  any  period 
since  the  Union  ;  and  further  than  that,  I  say  that  the 
conditions  upon  which  such  a  party  can  be  of  value 
and  can  achieve  victories  for  Ireland  remain  to-day 
absolutely  unchanged. 

"  First  of  all,  the  party  must  be  the  mouthpiece  of 
a  united,  organized  and  determined  people  at  home. 
An  Irish  party  in  the  English  Parliament  which  did 
not  represent  any  organized  and  united  people  in  Ire- 
land would  be  useless,  and,  in  my  judgment,  would 
be  worse  than  useless.  How  stands  the  National  organi- 
zation   at    this    moment    behind  the    National  party?      It 

is   ridiculous    to   blame    the    party  or  to  be  disappointed 

268 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

with  its  achievements  if  the  country  itself  had  not 
fulfilled  its  duty — hence  the  first  need  of  the  country 
is  to  realize  that  their  party  cannot  achieve  good  work 
for  Ireland  unless  the  people  themselves  do  their  duty 
at  home,  and  I  therefore  to-day  call  upon  the  Irish 
people  in  every  part  of  the  country  to  strengthen  the 
Irish  organization,  so  that  the  Irish  party  may  be  able 
to  speak  with  a  certain  confidence  in  the  name  of  the 
mass  of  the  people  at  home  here  in  Ireland. 

"  The  second  condition  without  which  no  party  in 
Parliament  can  be  of  any  value  is  that  it  must  be  a 
united  and  pledge-bound  party.  A  party  of  independent 
items,  a  party  of  gentlemen,  each  one  of  whom  went 
into  the  party  on  conditions  of  his  own,  would  be  an 
absolutely  useless  instrument  for  achieving  Irish  rights, 

"  Further  than  this,  the  party,  to  be  useful  to  Ireland, 
must  be  an  independent  party.  It  must  be  independent 
of  all  political  parties.  I  have  sat  now  in  the  House  of 
Commons  in  opposition  to  Liberal  and  Tory  Govern- 
ments for  twenty-seven  years.  I  have  taken  part  in 
driving  from  office  Liberal  Governments  and  Tory 
Governments  in  turn,  and  I  say  to  you  that  the  Irish 
party  is  absolutely  independent  of  all  political  combina- 
tions in  England.  We  have  no  alliance  with  the  present 
Liberal  party.  We  would  make  no  alliance  with  them 
except  upon  one  condition,  and  that  would  be  that  they 

would    not    only    determine    to    introduce    a    full  Home 

269 


JOHN  REDMOND 

Rule  Bill  for  Ireland,  but  that  they  would  make    it    the 
first  and  paramount  item  in  their  programme. 

"Now,  with  reference  further  to  the  party,  if  it  is  to 
be  useful  it  must  be  composed  of  honest,  capable  men. 
In  this  matter  the  party  is  the  result  of  the  action  of 
the  Irish  people  themselves.  I  have  not  interfered  in 
the  selection  of  candidates  for  Ireland.  I  am  not  sure 
that  I  could  not  have  made  a  fair  claim  to  have  my 
opinion  asked  with  reference  to  the  candidates,  because 
if  you  want  us  to  achieve  good  work,  we,  at  any  rate, 
ought  to  expect  you  would  give  us  useful  and  efficient 
instruments  to  carry  on  the  work,  and  it  would  not 
have  been  an  unreasonable  thing  if  I  had  asked  the 
Irish  people  to  allow  me  some  voice  in  advice,  at  any 
rate,  in  the  selection  of  candidates.  But  I  did  not  do 
so.  I  have  left  the  conventions  for  the  selection  of 
candidates  absolutely  free,  and  if  the  party,  in  the 
opinion  of  any  set  of  people,  is  not  made  up  of  capable 
or  honest  men,  the  blame,  and  the  fault,  and  the  crime, 
would  be  upon  the  Irish  people  themselves. 

"  Now,  with  such  a  party  as  I  have    described,  united, 

pledge-bound,     disciplined,    independent    of    all    English 

parties,  composed  of  honest  and  capable  men,  and,  above 

all,    representing    a    determined,    organized    and     united 

people  at  home — with    such  a    party    it  is    my    profound 

conviction  that  we  can  in  the    future,  as    we    have   done 

in    the    past,    win    great    ameliorative    reforms    for    the 

270 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

people  of  Ireland ;  and  further,  that  we  can,  in  a 
comparatively  short  space  of  time,  win  for  this  country 
the  right  of  full  national  self-government.  Fellow  country- 
men, Ireland  has,  in  my  opinion,  at  this  moment  such  a 
party  and  it  would  be  sheer  midsummer  madness,  it 
would  be  folly  unworthy  of  a  nation  of  children,  if  this 
great  weapon  which  has  won  so  much  in  the  past  were 
now  to  be  laid  aside  because  it  has  not  succeeded  in 
wiiming  in  a  couple  of  years  from  the  present  Govern- 
ment a  full  measure  of  national  self-government." 

That  the  Irish  party's  strength  thus  depends  upon  the 
balance  of  power,  is  of  course  evident,  so  evident,  in  fact, 
that  it  has  called  forth  many  a  protest — one  only  just 
recently  in  the  Fortnightly  Review,  asking  Englishmen 
how  long  they  would  stand  English  politics  being  made 
the  sport  of  aliens — while  there  have  been  few  accusa- 
tions more  often  repeated  than  that  a  party  was  pander- 
ing for  the  Irish  vote.  Gladstone  was  not  free  from  the 
accusation  and  John  Redmond  has  frequently  been 
criticized  for  thus  standing  aloof  from  other  parties  and 
always  awaiting  the  passing  of  the  crisis  that  heralds  a 
defeat  of  one  of  the  rivals  to  give  him  the  opportunity 
of  extracting  concessions  from  it  in  its  dying  struggles. 

From  an  Irish  point  of  view,    the    position    can    stand 

the    criticism    well.     For    as    long    as    Ireland    remains  a 

separate  entity,  separate  not  only  geographically,  but  in 

its    various    interests,    so    long    must    the    representatives 

271 


JOHN   REDMOND 

give  effect  to  that  independence  of  requirements  by 
standing  aloof  from  the  programmes  of  other  parties. 
It  would  be  as  absurd  to  tie  Ireland  down  to  Free 
Trade  because  she  wants  Home  Rule  as  it  would  be  to 
expect  every  Tariff  Reformer  to  be  necessarily  an 
opponent  of  Irish  autonomy.  The  interests  that  separate 
English  parties  are  not  Irish  interests,  therefore  they 
cannot  be  expected  to  win  over  Irish  sympathies.  A 
Socialist  measure  might  win  the  support  of  the  Nationalist 
party,  because  it  favoured  a  class  of  Irish  tenants  ;  but 
another  Socialist  measure  might  merit  its  hostility  if  by, 
say,  wholesale  secularization  it  endeavoured  to  subvert 
the  faith  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Irish  population. 
It  is  true  the  Irish  party  forms  one  of  the  great  demo- 
cratic parties  in  politics,  but  it  is  more  conservative 
than  the  Conservatives  themselves  in  matters  of  religion 
— at  least,  as  far  as  individual  members  of  it  are 
concerned. 

It  is,  however,  from  the  English  point  of  view  that 
John  Redmond's  position  is  most  attacked,  and  that 
there  is  most  hostility  to  his  dictatorship.  The  real 
fault  is  not  in  the  person  or  the  position,  it  is  in  the 
system  :  and  as  long  as  party  politics  continue,  so  long 
must  it  endure.  Any  minority  may  obtain  the  balance 
of  power,  and  it  is  no  more  odious  because  it  is  Irish 
than  because  it  is  a  minority  at  all,  and  any  re- 
sentment of   the    exercise    of    it    is    nothing    less    than 

272 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

a  public  repudiation  of  the  fundamental  doctrine  of 
parliamentary  government."  If  it  is  wrong  for  England 
to  be  governed  by  an  Irish  element,  it  is  no  less  unfair 
for  Ireland  to  be  ruled  by  the  English  element.  One 
cannot  resist  Home  Rule  on  the  plea  that  Home  Rulers 
are  interfering  with  our  self-government,  for  we  thus 
admit  at  once  the  justice  of  their  contention. 

Mr.  Stead,  who  treated  a  similar  situation  some  ten 
years  ago,  when  Mr.  Asquith,  it  may  be  recalled,  declared 
that  he  would  never  take  part  in  an  administration  that 
depended  for  its  existence  on  the  Irish  vote,  then  wrote : 
"  The  parliamentary  system  consists  in  the  assembling 
within  a  single  chamber  of  the  representatives  of  the 
duly  enfranchised  subjects  of  the  King.  In  the  eye  of 
the  Constitution,  it  matters  nothing  whether  a  member 
takes  his  ticket  from  Galloway  or  from  Aberdeen,  from 
Cork  or  from  Birmingham.  He  is  an  integral  part  of 
the  Imperial  Parliament,  and  there  is  no  discrimination 
as  to  origin  in  the  counting  of  votes  in  the  division 
lobby.  So  long,  therefore,  as  the  Union  exists,  we 
betray  the  fundamental  principle  of  that  instrument 
when  we  attempt  to  differentiate  between  the  Irish  or 
any  other  vote.  We  have  compelled  the  Irish  members 
to  meet  us  in  Westminster,  and  we  have  comforted  our- 
selves in  so  doing  by  declaring  before  all  our  Gods 
that    we    admit    Irish    members    to    all   the   rights   and 

privileges   and    honours    of   the    position    to    which    we 

273  18 


JOHN  REDMOND 

have  called  them.  For  Mr.  Asquith,  or  any  other  man, 
to  declare  that  he  will  refuse  to  carry  on  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  King  unless  he  has  a  majority  independent 
of  the  Irish  is  in  effect  to  declare  that,  whatever  the  law 
of  the  House  of  Commons  may  be,  he  will  refuse  to 
count  the  votes  of  his  Irish  fellow-members,  and  thereby 
set  them,  so  far  as  he  can,  outside  the  pale  of  the  Con- 
stitution." 

It  is  not,  however,  merely  a  game  of  divisions  in  the 
lobby  that  John  Redmond  plays,  for  the  party  is  not 
only  a  voting  entity,  it  is  also  a  thinking  and  speaking 
entity.  It  must  be  a  moving  spirit  upon  public  opinion, 
or  else  its  sphere  of  work  is  restricted  to  those  occasions, 
few  and  far  between,  when  it  can  for  a  moment  grasp 
the  balance  of  power.  This  is  what  Mr.  Redmond  is 
never  tired  of  impressing  on  his  followers,  and  which  by 
his  English  and  foreign  tours  he  illustrates  in  his  own 
person.  He  is,  therefore,  more  than  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, he  is  "  a  Parliamentarian  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  he  speaks 
of  social  and  economic  grievances  as  one  statesman  does 
to  another.  "  Parliamentarianism  "  is  to  him  the  language 
of  all  constitutional  progress.  Not  that  members  of 
Parliament  are  a  distinct  class  so  much  as  that  they 
fulfil  the  functions  of  the  intelligence  in  the  body  politic, 
and  that  an  appeal  to  them  is  the  surest  way  of  reach- 
ing  the   brain   of  the   nation.     The    House  of  Commons 

is  probably  what  he  respects  most  in  the  English  Consti- 

274 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

tution,  and  a  passage  in  one  of  his  American  speeches 
gives  a  singularly  good  example  of  this.  There  are  few 
sentiments  more  characteristic  of  the  man. 

"  In  the  main  the  House  of  Commons  is,  I  believe, 
actuated  by  a  sense  of  manliness  and  fair  play.  Of 
course,  I  am  not  speaking  of  it  as  a  governing  body,  in 
that  character  it  has  been  towards  Ireland  always  ignor- 
ant and  always  unfair ;  I  am  treating  it  simply  as  an 
assembly  of  men,  and  I  say  of  it,  it  is  a  body  where 
sooner  or  later  every  man  finds  his  proper  level,  where 
mediocrity  and  insincerity  will  never  permanently  succeed, 
and  where  ability  and  honesty  of  purpose  will  never 
permanently  fail."  It  is  to  him,  in  fact,  all  that 
is  most  representative  of  English  feeling  and  English 
thought. 

And  again,  "  The  House  of  Commons   throughout   its 

long   and    chequered   history   has    most  of  the  time  been 

a     true     reflex    of     the    mind     of    the     British    nation, 

and   its   attitude   at    different    periods    towards    different 

men  and  towards  events  has  been  the  attitude  which  the 

nation    at   large   has   eventually     assumed.     During   even 

my  short  time  I  have  seen  it  change  again  and  again  in 

its   way   of  regarding   and    feeling   towards   certain    men 

and   certain   events,    and    I   have   seen  the  British  nation 

invariably   follow,   or  at   least    keep   up  with,  its  varying 

phases." 

It   is   for   this   reason    that   John  Redmond  believes  in 

275  18* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Parliamentarianism,  apart  from  passing  politics,  and  it  is 
for  this  reason  that,  though  politically  never  more  insignifi- 
cant than  during  the  days  of  the  overwhelming  Liberal 
majorities,  he  was  never  in  point  of  fact  more  powerful. 
Half  his  power,  in  fact,  comes  from  the  public  opinion 
he  has  thus  been  able  to  mould,  and  which  he  calls  the 
"  outside  forces  "  that  make  for  Home  Rule. 
Speaking  of  this  movement  in  1907,  he  said  : 
"  Let  me  for  a  moment  ask  you  to  consider  some  of 
what  I  may  call  the  outside  conditions  and  influences 
which  affect  the  Irish  cause  at  this  moment — influences 
apart  from  Ireland.  First  of  all,  it  is  an  undoubted  fact 
that  the  bitter  hostility  to  Home  Rule  which  swayed  so 
many  of  the  people  of  England  twenty  years  ago  is 
absolutely  dead.  Within  the  last  few  months  vigorous 
and  most  costly  efforts  were  made  by  the  Unionists  of 
this  country  to  rouse  an  anti-Irish  campaign  in  Great 
Britain  by  speeches,  by  the  circulation  of  lying  literature, 
and  by  all  the  machinery  which  was  well  known  twenty 
years  ago,  by  the  circulation  of  bogus  stories  of  bogus 
outrages  and  so  forth,  and  this  campaign  fell  absolutely 
flat  and  was  an  absolute  failure.  I  believe,  for  myself, 
the  great  masses  of  the  working  people  of  Great  Britain 
are  not  in  their  hearts  hostile  to  Ireland  or  her  fair  de- 
mands. They  are  in  this  position :  they  are  struggling 
for   their   rights   themselves,   and   their   time   is  occupied 

with  their  own  affairs,  and,  further  than  that,  they  know 

276 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

very  little  about  Ireland,  and  therefore  they  are  in- 
different and  apathetic  :  but  hostile,  really  hostile,  to  the 
fair  demands  of  Ireland,  I  do  not  believe  the  masses  of 
the  working  people  of  Great  Britain  are  at  this  moment. 
Many  of  the  old  inveterate  enemies  of  Irish  freedom — I 
will  not  mention  names — amongst  leading  statesmen  of 
England,  have  disappeared  or  are  disappearing,  and 
speaking  of  them  now  individually,  I  give  you  my  own 
individual  opinion. 

"  I  say  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  present 
Liberal  party  in  the  House  of  Commons  are  in  favour  of 
a  measure  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland.  Further  than 
that,  the  party  of  the  future  in  England,  the  Labour 
party,  is  united  as  one  man  with  us,  and,  greatest 
perhaps  of  all  the  outside  influences  working  in  favour  of 
Home  Rule  is  the  everyday  experience  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  Every  day  the  sittings  of  the  House  of 
Commons  furnish  an  argument  in  favour  of  Home  Rule 
for  Ireland.  There  is  a  congestion  of  work  there,  grow- 
ing rapidly  day  by  day,  which  is  showing  the  English 
people  that  if  they  do  not  lighten  the  load  by  sending 
local  affairs  home  to  Ireland,  and  probably  to  Scotland 
and  Wales,  for  management,  representative  institutions 
in  England  will  sink  beneath  the  burden.  I  tell  you 
the  everyday  experience  of  the  House  of  Commons 
constitutes    an    argument    in    favour   of   Home    Rule   for 

Ireland,    and    it    is    being    pressed    upon    the    minds    of 

277 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Englishmen.    ..."    Again,  speaking  of  the  Colonies, 

he  said  :  "  At  the  back  of  all  that  you  have  the  opinion 

of  all    the    self-governing    Colonies,    from    the    mouth   of 

Sir    Wilfrid    Laurier,    and    from    the    mouth    of  General 

Botha.      Every    self-governing    Colony    at    this    moment 

has   openly   declared    by    Parliamentary    resolutions    and 

by  the  speeches  of  their  leaders  that  they  are  in  favour 

of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland.     I  say  to  you,  these   are   all 

outside  conditions  and  influences,  but  I  say,  if  you   had 

nothing   else,    and    if   you    left  Ireland's  own  efforts   out 

of  account  altogether,    these    outside    influences    make    it 

absolutely  certain  that  in  the  ordinary   course   of   events 

Home  Rule  for  Ireland  will  come,  and    the   influence   of 

Ireland's    own    action    at    home    will    decide    whether   it 

will  come  soon  or  not." 

This  feeling  on  the  part  of   the  Colonies    is,    however, 

in  no  small  measure  due  to  his  own  exertions  and  shows 

the  real  Imperialism  of  the    Home    Ruler.      He    believes 

in  the  conscience    of  the  Empire  because  he  believes   in 

its    unity.      And    he    believes    in    its    unity   because    he 

believes  in  the  unity   of  the   two   races   who   have   built 

it  up.     He  is  an  Irish    Imperialist   because   he   feels   the 

Empire  is  Irish.     But  if  an  Imperialist,  he  is  at   least   a 

consistent    Imperialist,    and    one    who    looks    upon    that 

bond,  if  applied  in   the   same   spirit,    as    a    safeguard    of 

independence    rather   than    a   danger,    and    it    is  for  this 

reason    he    is   anxious    to    show    that    Ireland    and    the 

278 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

Empire  are  of  one  mind  upon  the  first  principle  of  all 
federations,  namely,  Home  Rule. 

And  from  the  thousands  of  letters  and  resolutions  of 
sympathy  from  the  Colonies  I  may  select  one  which 
may  be  taken  at  once  as  the  most  important  and 
most  characteristic. 

In  1905,  the  Australian  Federal  House  of  Representa- 
tives adopted  a  motion  of  Mr.  Higgins  for  a  petition  to 
the  King  in  favour  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  thereby 
exercising  a  right  which,  Mr.  Higgins  maintained,  the 
Colonial  Office  had  already  recognized,  and  John  Red- 
mond received  the  following  telegram  : 

"  Melbourne, 

"October  19th,   1905. 
"  Resolution  involving  petition  to  King  favouring 
Home  Rule    carried    in    both    Houses  Federal  Legis- 
lature by  substantial  majority. 

"  Nicholas  O'Donnell." 

The  resolution  was  identical  with  one  passed  by  the 
Canadian  Parliament  in   1903,  and  ran  as  follows  : 

"  May  it  please  your  Majesty, 

"  We,  your    Majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects, 

the    members    of    the  House    of   Representatives   in 

Parliament  assembled,  desire   most  earnestly  in   your 

name    and    on    behalf    of    the     people     whom     we 

279 


JOHN  REDMOND 

represent  to  express  our  unswerving  loyalty  and 
devotion  to  your  Majesty's  person  and  Govern- 
ment. 

"We  have  observed  with  feelings  of  profound 
satisfaction  the  evidence  afforded  by  recent  legis- 
lation and  recent  debates  in  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment of  the  United  Kingdom  of  a  sincere  desire  to 
deal  justly  with  Ireland,  and  in  particular  we  con- 
gratulate the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom  on  the 
remarkable  Act  directed  towards  the  settlement  of 
the  land  question,  and  on  the  concession  to  the 
people  of  Ireland  of  a  measure  of  Local  Government 
for  municipal  purposes.  But  the  sad  history  of 
Ireland  since  the  Act  of  Union  shows  that  no 
British  Parliament  can  understand  and  especially 
deal  with  the  economic  and  social  conditions  of 
Ireland.  Enjoying  and  appreciating  as  we  do  the 
blessings  of  Home  Rule  here,  we  would  humbly 
express  the  hope  that  a  just  measure  of  Home 
Rule  may  be  granted  to  the  people  of  Ireland. 
They  ask  it  through  their  representatives — never 
has  request  more  clear,  consistent,  and  continuous 
been  made  by  any  nation.  As  subjects  of  your 
Majesty,  we  are  interested  in  the  peace  and  con- 
tentment of  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  and  we  desire 
to  see  the  long-standing  grievance  at  the  very  heart 

of  the  Empire  removed.      It    is   our    desire    for   the 

280 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

solidarity  and  permanence  of  the  Empire,  as  a 
power  making  for  peace  and  civilization,  that  must 
be  our  excuse  for  submitting  to  your  Majesty  this 
respectful  petition." 

This  petition  was  supported  by  the  Federal  Premier, 
Mr.  Deakin  ;  the  Labour  leader,  Mr.  Watson  ;  Mr.  Isaacs, 
Attorney-General ;  Sir  William  Lyne,  Minister  for  Trade, 
and  Mr.  Chapman,  Postmaster-General.  Mr.  Deakin, 
though  he  spoke  as  a  private  member,  pointed  out 
that  the  Colonial  Secretary  had  admitted  the  right  of 
the  Colonies  to  make  such  a  petition,  and  gave  as  an 
example  one  on  Chinese  Labour,  saying  he  looked 
forward  to  a  time  when  the  Devolution  in  Ireland 
would  be  only  a  prelude  to  Devolution  in  the  Empire. 
John  Redmond  felt  the  force  of  such  a  support  and 
at  once  wired  back  to  Dr.  Nicholas  O'Donnell,  of 
Melbourne. 

"  Convey  to  Higgins  and  supporters  thanks  for 
valuable  service  to  Ireland.  Every  self-governing 
Colony  in  Empire  has  now  declared  for  Home 
Rule   for    Ireland. 

"John  Redmond." 

It  is  not,  however,  to  the  conscience  of  the  Empire 
alone  John  Redmond  appeals,  but  to  that  of  all  English- 
speaking     nations.        Hence     the     much     misunderstood 

281 


JOHN   REDMOND 

American   missions,  which,  since   his   first   in    1886,  seem 

to   have   been    made    the    special    ground    of    attack    on 

the    part     of     Unionist     organs,    who    seek    to    extract 

disloyal   sentiments  from  his   speeches  there ;  and  I  have 

often    seen   garbled    passages    which,  I   recognized,   were 

turned    into  the  strangest  contortions   to  suit  party  ends. 

The    aim     is    twofold,    financial    and    national,   as    John 

Redmond    himself  told    Mr.    Stead    in   1901. 

"  I  am  going  to  America  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 

to    our     people    the     union     now     happily     effected     in 

Ireland    in   all  sections    of  the    Nationalists.      I   shall    set 

forth   the    prospects   of  the    Irish    cause   and    ask    them 

to   give   substantial   support  to  the  United  Irish  League. 

My   attitude   to   the    Irish    physical     force    societies   who 

have   refused    to   welcome   me   to   America   is    clear   and 

obvious.      I    have   no   quarrel    with   any    man   as    to   the 

freeing   of   Ireland    in  the  way  he  thinks  the  best.     And 

something    akin    to    despair    of    constitutional    methods 

is    quite    natural.      I,   however,    do   not  despair ;    on    the 

contrary,   I    think    that  what    we    have    already    achieved 

justifies    every   confidence    that    we    shall    reach    our  end 

by  the  constitutional  road."      But  the    point    most  worth 

noting  in  these  American  tours  is  the  attitude  of  the  Irish 

themselves,    which    displays    a    loyalty    to    the    land     of 

their   birth    which    has    probably    no    parallel   in    history. 

"  Perhaps    the   greatest  glory  of  our   nation,"    said    John 

Redmond  on  one  of  these  occasions,  "  is  to   be  found  in 

282 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

the    fact    that    our    people,    driven    by    misfortune    and 

misrule    from    the    land    of  their  forefathers,  and  coming 

to  the  land  rude,  ignorant,  and  poor,  have  yet  been  able 

to  bear  an   honourable  part  in    building  up    the    fortunes 

of  America  and  to  give  the  world  undeniable  proof  that, 

in    addition    to    the    qualities    of    fidelity    and    honesty, 

Irishmen  under  a    free    constitution    can    be  worthy    sons 

and    good     citizens.       The    Irish    people    in    this    great 

republic,    no    less    as    American    citizens    than   as    Irish 

Nationalists,  have  arrested  the  attention  and  commanded 

the  admiration  of  the  world. 

"  The    Irish   soldier,   whose   sword    was   consecrated    to 

the  service  of  America,  dreamed  as   he  went    into    battle 

of  the    day    when    his    adopted    country    might    strike    a 

blow   for    Irish    liberty.      The    Irish    business    man,    who 

found    in    one    of    your    gigantic     cities    scope     for     his 

enterprise   and    for   his    industry,    looked   forward    to    the 

day   when    from    his    store    help    might    go   across    the 

Atlantic   to   sustain    Ireland's   champions  on  the  old  sod. 

The     Irish    labourer,    whose    brawny    arms    have     built 

your  railroads    and    reared    your   stately    palaces,  in    the 

midst  of  his  labours  laid  aside  his  daily   or  weekly    mite 

to   help   those  who   were    fighting   time    after    time  with 

one    weapon    or   another    in    the    old    cause    against    the 

enemies  of  Ireland.     Rich  and  poor,  high  and    low  alike, 

the    Irish    in    America    have    never    forgotten    the    land 

whence   they    sprang,  and  our  people   at   home,  in   their 

283 


JOHN   REDMOND 

joys  and  in  their  sorrows,  in  their  hopes  and  in  their 
fears,  turn  ever  for  help  and  encouragement  and 
confidence  to  this  great  republic  upon  whose  fortunes 
and  whose  future  rest  to-day  the  blessing  of  the 
Irish  race." 

But  all  these  missions  and  tours  are  especially 
designed  to  give  the  Irish  demand  the  fullest  possible 
publicity  in  order  to  evoke  the  most  complete  sympathy 
which  can  be  given  to  it  by  the  English-speaking 
peoples,  and  the  reception  of  the  Irish  delegates  is 
always  a  public  event  in  New  York  and  Boston.  Thus 
the  Freeman,  reviewing  the  mission  of  1904,  said  : 

"  A  really  international  character  was  given  to  the 
proceedings  of  the  United  States  officials.  As  if  to 
emphasize  the  solidarity  of  North  America  in  approval 
of  Irish  claims,  the  Governors  of  all  the  Northern 
states  followed  up  the  action  of  the  Premier  and 
Cabinet  of  the  Canadian  Government  by  associating 
themselves  with  the  proceedings.  The  Governor  of  the 
old  Quaker  State  presided  at  the  meeting,  and  the 
Governors  of  twenty-five  other  States  of  the  Union  from 
New  York  to  Montana  and  from  Texas  to  Illinois  sent 
acceptance  of  the  role  of  President  of  the  organizing 
committee,  and  all  the  Catholic  prelates  of  the  State 
of  Philadelphia  joined  in  the  welcome  to  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Irish  Party.  For  a  parallel  we  have  to 
CTo   back   to   those     remarkable    demonstrations   in    New 

284 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

York,  Boston  and  Chicago  in  the  autumn  of  1890,  before 
dissension  had  raised  its  head  in  the  National  ranks." 

A  passage  from  Mr.  Bernard  Shaw,  always  brilliant 
on  Irish  affairs,  gives  a  singular  endorsement  of  the 
methods  of  John  Redmond  as  a  whole,  and  is  worth 
quoting : 

"  I  do  not  claim  it  as  a  natural  superiority  in  the  Irish 
nation  that  it  dislikes  and  mistrusts  fools,  and  expects 
its  political  leaders  to  be  clever  and  humbug-proof,"  he 
writes  in  the  preface  to  "  John  Bull's  Other  Island."  "  It 
may  be  that  if  our  resources  included  the  armed  forces 
and  virtually  unlimited  money  which  push  the  political 
and  military  figure-heads  of  England  through  bungled 
enterprises  to  a  muddled  success,  and  create  an  illusion 
of  some  miraculous  and  divine  innate  English  quality 
that  enables  a  general  to  become  a  conqueror  with 
abilities  that  would  not  suffice  to  save  a  cabman  from 
having  his  license  marked,  and  a  member  of  Parliament 
to  become  Prime  Minister  with  the  outlook  on  life  of  a 
sporting  country  solicitor  educated  by  a  private  governess, 
we  should  lapse  into  gross  intellectual  sottishness,  and 
prefer  leaders  who  encouraged  our  vulgarities  by  sharing 
them  and  flattered  us  by  associating  them  with  pur- 
chased successes,  to  our  betters.  But  as  it  is,  we  cannot 
afford  that  sort  of  encouragement  and  flattery  in  Ireland. 
The  odds  against  which  our  leaders  have  to  fight   would 

be    too     heavy    for     the    fourth-rate    Englishmen    whose 

285 


JOHN  REDMOND 

leadership  consists  for  the  most  part  in  marking  time 
ostentatiously  until  they  are  violently  shoved,  and  then 
stumbling  blindly  forward  (or  backward),  wherever  the 
shove  sends  them.  We  cannot  crush  England  as  a 
Pickford's  van  might  crush  a  perambulator.  We  are  the 
perambulator  and  England  the  Pickford.  We  must  study 
her  and  our  real  weaknesses  and  real  strength  ;  we  must 
practise  upon  her  slow  conscience  and  her  quick  terrors ; 
we  must  deal  in  ideas  and  political  principles,  since  we 
cannot  deal  in  bayonets ;  we  must  outwit,  outwork,  out- 
stay her  ;  we  must  embarrass,  bully,  even  conspire  and 
assassinate,  when  nothing  else  will  move  her,  if  we  are 
not  all  to  be  driven  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  shame 
and  misery  of  our  servitude.  Our  leaders  must  be  not  only 
determined  enough,  but  clever  enough,  to  do  this. 

"  We  have  no  illusions  as  to  the  existence  of  any 
mysterious  Irish  pluck,  Irish  honesty,  Irish  bias  on  the 
part  of  providence,  or  sterling  Irish  solidity  of  character 
that  will  enable  an  Irish  blockhead  to  hold  his  own 
against  England.  Blockheads  are  of  no  use  to  us  ;  we 
were  compelled  to  follow  a  supercilious,  unpopular, 
tongue-tied,  aristocratic,  Protestant  Parnell,  although  there 
was  no  lack  among  us  of  fluent  imbeciles,  with  majestic 
presences  and  oceans  of  dignity  and  sentiment,  to  promote 
into  his  place  could  they  have  done  his  work  for  us. 

"It  is  obviously    convenient  that  Mr.  Redmond  should 

be  a  better  speaker  and    rhetorician    than  Parnell  ;  but  if 

286 


THE   MAN   AND   HIS   METHODS 

he  began  to  use  his  powers  to  make  himself  agreeable 
instead  of  making  himself  reckoned  with  by  the  enemy  ; 
if  he  set  to  work  to  manufacture  and  support  English 
shams  and  hypocrisies  instead  of  exposing  and  denounc- 
ing them  ;  if  he  constituted  himself  the  permanent 
apologist  of  doing  nothing,  and,  when  the  people  insisted 
on  his  doing  something,  only  roused  himself  to  discover 
how  to  pretend  to  do  it  without  really  changing  anything, 
he  would  lose  his  leadership  as  certainly  as  an  English 
politician  would,  by  the  same  course,  attain  a  permanent 
place  on  the  front  bench.  In  short,  our  circumstances 
place  a  premium  on  political  ability,  whilst  the  circum- 
stances of  England  discount  it  ;  and  the  quality  of  the 
supply  naturally  follows  the  demand." 

Hence  we  see  that  John  Redmond,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  a  parliamentary  leader,  is  right  in  his  methods. 
An  Irish  leader  cannot  adopt  any  other  tactics.  Isaac  Butt 
tried  '  passive  insistence,'  was  greatly  respected,  and 
never  listened  to.  John  Redmond  is  a  man  who  is 
fighting  a  political  battle  against  probably  every  odds 
that  can  possibly  handicap  a  leader.  His  party  is  one 
of  the  smaller  ones.  Every  discontent  upon  his  part 
is  looked  upon  as  a  disloyalty.  Every  attempt  to 
organize  a  demonstration  is  looked  upon  as  engineered 
ruffianism.  An  appeal  for  funds  for  the  retaining  of 
members    in    London    is  sufficient   to  get  them  the  name 

of    *a   kept   party.'     Once   their   votes    become    effective 

287 


JOHN   REDMOND 

they  are  *  stealing  legislation.'  If  an  English  party  is  at 
one  in  principle  with  the  Irish  demand,  it  is  pandering  for 
the  Irish  vote.  If  he  is  pleading  for  religious  equality, 
he  is  spoken  of  as  a  priests'  puppet  trying  to  establish 
the  reign  of  clericalism.  If  his  followers  support  him, 
they  are  henchmen ;  if  they  revolt,  it  is  that  he  no 
longer  represents  anyone  but  himself.  But  at  the  same 
time,  whether  he  is  called  a  leader  or  a  chairman,  a 
boss  or  a  figurehead,  the  great  point  remains  the  same, 
that  the  Irish  demand  is  put  forward  effectively  and 
intelligently  and  the  recording  pages  of  the  Statute  Book 
bear  witness  to  the  wisdom  of  the  policy.  But  for  that 
policy,  but  for  that  organization,  but  for  that  world-wide 
appeal  making  the  Irish  cause  popular  throughout  the 
Empire  and  powerful  in  the  House  of  Commons,  John 
Redmond,  brilliant  orator  and  statesman  though  he  is, 
would  still  remain  a  political  zero. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE   MESSAGE 

THE    IRISH    DEMAND 

r^VER  half  a  century  ago  Disraeli  said,  "  I  want  to  see 
a  public  man  come  forward  and  say  what  the  Irish 
question  really  is.  One  says  it  is  a  physical  question — 
another,  a  spiritual.  Now  it  is  the  absence  of  an 
aristocracy,  then  it  is  the  absence  of  railways.  It  is  the 
Pope  one  day  and  potatoes  the  next." 

If  there  is  anyone  who  can  be  said  to  be  that  man 
to-day,  it  is  John  Redmond ;  and  it  is  the  answer  to 
Pitt's  question  to  Grattan,  "  What  does  Ireland  now 
want  ? "  (which  has  been  repeated  by  every  English 
statesman  since  1794)  that  I  have  ventured  to  call  the 
Irish  leader's  message.  A  little  girl  was  once  asked  for 
the  date  of  the  Conquest  of  Ireland,  and  replied,  "  It 
began  in  1169  and  is  going  on  still."  John  Redmond's 
answer  is  the  same, 

"  Each     generation      of     Englishmen,"      writes     John 

Redmond,    in    a    preface  to  Barry    O'Brien's    "  Hundred 

Years    of    Irish    History,"    "  have    comforted    themselves 

289  19 


JOHN   REDMOND 

with  the  reflection  that  they  were  righteous  men,  though 
their  ancestors  governed  Ireland  infamously.  No 
Englishman  justified  the  government  of  Ireland  in  the 
sixteenth,  seventeenth  or  eighteenth  century,  and  even 
the  Englishmen  of  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  condemn  the  government  of  the  men  of  the 
earlier  part.  But  the  truth  is,  that  there  is  no  genera- 
tion of  Englishmen  who  can  plume  themselves  on  their 
administration  of  Irish  affairs.  Ignorance  and  ineptitude 
are  the  characteristics  of  the  English  rulers  of  Ireland 
of  every  generation  ;  yet  Englishmen  talk  of  Irish 
ingratitude  and  sneer  at  Irish  grievances.  *  What  does 
Ireland  now  w^ant  ? '  is  the  stock  question  of  English 
statesmen  of  the  twentieth  century."  And  he  adds, 
"  Were  I  to  draw  an  indictment  against  English  rule 
in  Ireland,  I  should  confine  myself  to  the  nineteenth 
century." 

In  fact,  it  may  be  said  that  the  "  Irish  Problem " 
hardly  existed  before  the  Union — certainly  not  as  far  as 
English  politics  were  concerned.  It  really  started  the 
day  the  English  House  of  Commons  took  over  the 
government  of  Ireland,  in  the  general  panic  that 
followed  the  rebellion  of  America  and  the  spread  of  the 
French  Revolution.  Before  that  date  Irish  domestic 
questions  were  thrashed  out  by  Irishmen,  on  Irish  soil 
and  in  Irish  interests  ;  since  then  they  have  only  been 
attended     to     by     Englishmen     upon     compulsion    and 

290 


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THE   MESSAGE 

entirely  in  the  interests  of  one  class  of  the  community 
— the  absentees.  Irish  discontent  was  thus  forced  upon 
the  nation  by  the  English  Parliament.  This  was  what 
Grattan  foretold  a  century  ago :  this  is  what  John 
Redmond  proves  has  now  taken  place.  And  considering 
the  general  ignorance  upon  Irish  affairs,  it  may  not  be 
without  advantage  to  recapitulate  some  of  the  history  of 
the  Irish  demand,  in  order  to  view  the  Irish  leader's 
message  in  the   light   of  experience. 

For  "  What  Home  Rule  was  "  is  the  best  answer  to 
the  question,  "  What  will  Home  Rule  be  ?  "  What,  then, 
was  the  nature  of  the  Parliament  of  Ireland  before  the 
Union  ?  It  can  be  seen  in  Mr.  Redmond's  preface  to 
Mr.  Barry  O'Brien's  "One  Hundred  Years  of  Irish 
History." 

"  The    first    Irish  Parliament    was  held  in  the  reign  of 

Edward    I.,    in    1295.     The    earliest    Irish    statutes    date 

from    1 3 10.     From    1295    to    1495,    the  Irish  Parliament 

was    free    from    the    control    of  the    English  Parliament. 

No    law    made    in    England    was    binding  upon    Ireland. 

It  was  in  no  wise  necessary  for    the    English   Parliament 

to  ratify  the  Irish  statutes.     In  1495  the  first  attempt  at 

any    innovation  was  made.     Poynings's  Law  was  passed. 

It  provided  :  (1)  that  all  acts  hitherto  passed  in  PIngland 

should    be    binding  in    Ireland ;   (2)    that  no    Parliament 

should    hereafter    be    summoned    in    Ireland    unless  the 

Viceroy    had    obtained    the    King's    licence    to   hold   it ; 

291  I9'*' 


JOHN   REDMOND 

(3)  that  the  heads  of  bills  to  be  introduced  in  the  Irish 
Parliament  should  be  first  submitted  to  the  English 
Privy  Council ;  (4)  that  the  consent  of  King  and  Privy 
Council  should  be  obtained  before  such  bills  were  intro- 
duced. It  will  be  seen,  however,"  Mr.  Redmond  adds, 
"  that,  servile  as  this  Parliament  was,  it  did  not  surrender 
its  independence :  it  did  not  recognize  England's  right 
to  make  laws  for  Ireland. 

"  It  recognized  the  right  of  the  King  of  England,  who 
was  also  King  of  Ireland,  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over  Irish 
legislation,  and  it  adopted  English  acts  previously  passed. 
That  was  all.  It  still  received  co-ordinate  authority,  and 
this  remained  the  state  of  things  until  the  reign  of 
George  I.  Then  an  act  was  passed  in  1719  which  pro- 
vided that  '  the  King's  Majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  of  Great 
Britain,  had,  hath,  and  of  right  ought  to  have,  full 
power  and  authority  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  people 
and  the  kingdom  of  Ireland.' " 

This,  then,  was  the   great  usurpation,  so  unjustified  in 

theory    and    so    disastrous    in    fact.     It    was    a    complete 

reversal    of   the    policy   of   self-government,    and    it    was 

this,   and    this   alone,  which   first   aroused    the    desire  for 

political   independence  in  Ireland.     At   first   the   right  of 

the    English     Parliament    to    exercise    jurisdiction    over 

Irish     legislation    was    chiefly     engineered     against     the 

religion   of  the   country,  so   that   one   may   say  Unionist 

292 


THE   MESSAGE 

policy  is  the  last  trace  of  persecution  and  Liberal  policy 
the  beginning  of  toleration. 

"  The  beginning  of  the  Irish  penal  code,"  as  Lecky 
says,  "was  a  law  passed  in  1691  by  the  English  Par- 
liament for  excluding  all  Catholics  from  the  Irish  one," 
but  so  successful  did  this  become,  that  it  not  only  ex- 
cluded every  Papist,  but  it  completely  denationalized 
the  Parliament :  it  was  not  only  as  if  none  but  High- 
Churchmen  were  allowed  to  sit  in  the  English  chamber 
but  as  if,  in  addition,  every  seat  was  in  the  gift  of  an 
hereditary  Privy  Council. 

Thus  speaking  of  the  year  1753,  Froude  says,  "  A 
majority  in  the  House  of  Commons  was  at  this  time 
returned  by  four  great  families  :  the  Fitzgeralds  of  Kil- 
dare,  the  Boynes,  the  Ponsonbys  and  the  Beresfords — 
the  political  sovereigns  of  Ireland.  The  Government 
was  carried  on  by  their  assistance,  and  they  received  in 
return  the  patronage  of  the  State.  The  Viceroy  under- 
stood the  meaning  of  the  vote.  Patriotic  orators  were 
silenced  by  promotion.  Opposition  to  England's  initiation 
of  money  bills  was  suspended,  till  the  great  families 
were  again  hungry,  and  fresh  expectants  of  promotion 
were  in  a  position  to  be  troublesome." 

Such  is  the  terrible  indictment  of  the  acknowledged 
apologist  of  English  rule  in  Ireland.  It  was,  therefore, 
a  national,  and  not  merely  a  Catholic  grievance,  for 
when    the     echoes    of    Bunker's    Hill     reached    Ireland, 

293 


JOHN   REDMOND 

when  four  thousand  Irish  troops  had  been  sent  to 
America,  and  the  Mayor  of  Belfast  fruitlessly  appealed 
for  English  help  to  defend  the  country  against  French 
invasion  (then  a  scare,  as  often  since),  there  rose,  as 
Lecky  says,  "  one  of  those  movements  of  enthusiasm 
that  only  occur  two  or  three  times  in  the  history  of  a 
nation.  The  cry  '  To  arms  ! '  passed  through  all  the  land 
and  was  responded  to  by  all  parties  and  creeds. 
They  arose  to  defend  their  country  from  the  invasion 
of  the  foreign  army  and  from  the  encroachments  of  the 
alien  legislature." 

There  was  nothing  hostile  to  the  Empire,  it  is  worth 
noting,  but  there  was  the  bitterest  hatred  against  the 
policy  of  the  Government.  In  fact,  with  the  very  same 
breath  as  they  were  asking  for  legislative  independence 
they  were  appealing  for  a  defensive  union  against  foreign 
invasion  and  a  commercial  equality  in  free  exports  of 
wool,  a  trade  in  which  about  half  the  population  were 
engaged.  On  April  the  19th,  1780,  Grattan  propounded 
what  may  be  called  The  Irish  Declaration  of  Rights, 
which  ran  that,  first,  "  The  King,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Parliament  of  Ireland,  was  alone  competent  to  enact  laws 
to  bind  Ireland  ;  "  and  second,  that  "  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  were  indissolubly  united,  but  only  under  the  tie 
of  a  common  sovereign." 

The  demand,  backed  by  the  volunteers  and  the  nation, 

was  successful.     A  couple  of  years   later,  in    1782,   Lord 

294 


THE   MESSAGE 

North,  who  had  lost  America  and  would  in  all  probability 
have  lost  Ireland  as  well,  was  displaced,  and  Fox  took 
his  place,  the  Duke  of  Portland  bocoming  Lord 
Lieutenant.  Pitt  was  the  Chamberlain,  Fox  was  the 
Gladstone  of  his  day,  for  he  foresaw  that  only  on  Home 
Rule  principles  could  Ireland  be  satisfied.  Hence,  when 
the  Irish  Houses  had  assembled,  the  following  message 
was  read  from  the  English  Premier :  "  I  have  it  in  com- 
mand from  His  Majesty  to  inform  this  House  that  His 
Majesty  being  concerned  to  find  that  discontents  and 
jealousies  are  prevailing  upon  matters  of  great  weight 
and  importance,  His  Majesty  recommends  it  to  this 
House  to  take  the  same  into  their  most  serious  con- 
sideration, in  order  to  effect  such  a  final  adjustment  as 
may  give  mutual  satisfaction  to  His  Kingdoms  of  Eng- 
land and  Ireland."  Grattan's  speech  on  the  occasion  is 
very  significant,  and  never  more  so  than  at  present,  when 
another  leader  is  on  the  eve  of  a  constitutional  crisis 
identical  in  almost  every  particular,  save,  perhaps,  that 
one  hundred  years  of  disaster  consequent  on  the  reversal 
of  the  generous  policy  that  was  then  contemplated  may 
have  taught  us  some  political  wisdom. 

"  I  found  Ireland  on  her  knees,"  he  said.  "  I  watched 
over  her  with  an  eternal  solicitude.  I  have  traced  her 
progress  from  injuries  to  arms  and  from  arms  to  liberty. 
Ireland  is  now  a  nation."  The  point  is  most  important 
as     involving     the     high-water     mark     of    constitutional 

295 


JOHN   REDMOND 

independence  consistent  both  with  the  national  aspirations 
of  one  of  Ireland's  noblest  patriots  and  one  of  the  most 
loyal  of  the  old  Imperialists. 

The  statute  ran  as  follows : 

"  Be  it  enacted  that  the  right  claimed  by  the  people 
of  Ireland  to  be  bound  only  by  the  laws  enacted  by  His 
Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of  that  Kingdom  and  to 
have  all  actions  at  law  and  in  equity  which  may  be 
instituted  in  that  kingdom  decided  in  His  Majesty's 
Courts,  without  appeal  thence,  shall  be  and  is  hereby 
declared  and  asserted  for  ever  and  shall  at  no  time  here- 
after be  questioned  or  questionable." 

This  statute   is   the    Magna   Charta   of   Home  Rulers : 

the  one  point  to  which  they  always  return  ;    and  it  is  the 

wholesale   corruption   by   which    it   came   to   be   torn   up 

that  forms  one  of  the  blackest  stains  in  the  whole  annals 

of  English   history.       No   one   outside   a   lunatic   asylum 

would    ever    seek    seriously    to    defend    the    methods    by 

which     the     Union     was      passed,     and     probably     few 

would  like  to  base  England's  right  upon  such  a  piece  of 

highway    robbery    (to    use    the    mJldest    term    that    will 

apply).     Hence,  were  the  Home  Rule   question   purely   a 

matter  of  history,  one   could   say   at   once   that   the   flaw 

in  England's  title  is  as  evident  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens. 

But  like  a  barrister,  John  Redmond  waives  the  point  for 

the   moment,  and   prefers   to   plead   his   case   on   another 

argument — that   of  the   prosperity   of  Ireland  under   that 

296 


THE   MESSAGE 

system  which  the  Union  abolished.  Ireland  under  Grattan's 
Home  Rule  Parliament  was  prosperous,  loyal  and  con- 
tented ;  under  Pitt's  system  it  at  once  became  bankrupt, 
disloyal,  discontented. 

Of  the  period  between  1782  and  1800,  which  saw 
Ireland's  exports  increase  over  one-half  and  her  popula- 
tion over  one-third,  Lord  Clare  said,  "  No  country  in  the 
world  ever  made  such  great  advance  in  cultivation  and 
commerce,  agriculture  and  manufactures  with  the  same 
rapidity  in  the  same  time."  "  Her  laws  were  well 
arranged  and  administered,"  said  Lord  Plunkett,  "  a  con- 
stitution fully  recognized  and  established,  her  revenues 
and  manufactures  thriving  beyond  the  most  sanguine 
hopes — an  example  to  any  other  country  of  her  ex- 
tent." 

But  even  this  prosperity  was  in  spite  of  things,  for 
the  Irish  Government  was  not  responsible  to  the  Irish 
Parliament.  Accordingly,  corruption  still  went  on.  "  The 
country  was  placed,"  said  Grattan  in  1790,  "in  a  sort 
of  interval  between  the  ceasing  of  a  system  of  oppression 
and  the  forming  of  a  system  of  corruption."  Two-thirds 
of  the  land  was  in  the  hands  of  grantees  of  confiscation. 
Twenty-five  landowners  held  116  seats,  of  which  one- 
half  belonged  to  three  families  ;  while  the  pension  list 
amounted  to  over  a  million.  As  to  the  sale  of  peerages, 
Curran  used  to  say,  "  It    is   as    notorious   as    the   sale   of 

cart-horses    in    the    Castle    Yard ;     the    publicity    is    the 

297 


JOHN   REDMOND 

same,  the  terms  not  very  different,  the  horses  not 
warranted  sound,  the  other  animals  warranted  rotten." 
It  was  this  Unionist  policy  against  which  Grattan 
thundered.  "  Reform  ParHament,"  he  used  to  say,  "  and 
let  the  King  identify  himself  with  his  people,  and  try 
this  plan ;  for  the  ultimate  consequence  of  a  union  will  be 
Separation." 

The  "  fomented  rebellion  of  '98  "  was  but  the  natural 
result  of  such  a  state  of  things.  The  Union,  the  real 
cause  of  the  rebellion,  was  euphemistically  called  its 
remedy.  "The  rebellion  of  1798,  with  all  the  accumulated 
miseries  it  entailed,  was  the  direct  and  predicted  conse- 
quence of  Pitt's  policy,"  writes  Lecky.  "Ireland  in  1795 
was  singularly  easy  to  govern  had  it  been  governed 
honestly  and  by  honest  men.  Pitt  sowed  in  Ireland  the 
seeds  of  discord  and  bloodshed,  religious  animosities  and 
social  disorganization,  which  paralysed  the  energies  of  the 
country  and  rendered  possible  the  success  of  his 
machinations."     (Lecky  on  Grattan,  14th  ed.,  1871.) 

Thus  it  is  to  the  few  years  of  practical  experience  in 
Home  Rule  that  John  Redmond  appeals  for  a  justification 
of  his  proposals ;  it  is  to  a  century  of  the  reversal  of 
that  policy  he  points  as  the  condemnation  of  its 
continuance. 

The  demand  of  John    Redmond  to-day  is  the  demand 

of  Grattan    in  1782,      There  is  no  question  of  separation 

— merely   one  of   internal   administration.      His   plea   for 

298 


^ii 


I'l-oiii  an  niijincinij  liij  /'.  ('.  I.,  ui..,  aft'  r  I lir  pi,l iii'  lili  K.  K'liiiV. 

HENRY    GRATTAN 

Moving  the   Declaration  of   Rights  in  the    Irish    House  of   Commons,    April    16tli,    1782 


ITo  /ace  p.  298. 


THE   MESSAGE 

reform  and  settlement  of  grievances  and  his  protests 
against  extrinsic  interference  are  the  same.  His  name 
does  not  stand  so  much  for  a  measure  as  for  a  principle  ; 
he  is  a  Gladstonian  and  follower  of  Fox  as  opposed  to 
a  disciple  of  Pitt  and  Salisbury  ;  he  is  an  advocate  of 
autonomy  as  opposed  to  autocracy  ;  he  believes  in 
decentralization  as  opposed  to  centralization  in  matters 
of  government  ;  he  knows  the  full  strength  of  federa- 
tion, but  he  also  knows  the  weakness  of  union ;  he  is 
a  natural  rebel  to  coercion  in  any  form,  religious  or 
national,  and  there  is  none  who  has  been  more  moderate 
and  at  the  same  time  more  earnest  than  he  in  seeking 
to  bring  about  a  spirit  of  conciliation  between  the  two 
religions  and  the  two  races  in  Ireland. 

In  fact,  every  Irish  leader's  speeches  to-day  read 
exactly  alike — those  of  Grattan,  of  O'Connell,  Butt  and 
Parnell,  as  well  as  those  of  Redmond,  and  it  seems 
strange  how  in  the  light  of  history  every  leader  has 
been  branded  as  a  rebel  to  the  Empire  simply  for 
protesting  against  the  Castle  Government  of  Ireland. 
In  truth,  Home  Rule  has  never  been  fought  except  as 
a  scare ;  and  certainly  it  is  high  time  that  a  misunder- 
standing which  has  cost  the  nation  four  millions  of 
population  should  be  rectified.  I  have  said  that  the 
message  of  every  leader  is  the  same.  This  is  true. 
But     if    there     is     any    difference    at    all    between    the 

messages,    it    is    rathe**    the    result    of    the    personalities 

299 


JOHN   REDMOND 

of  the  leaders  and  their  times  which  caused  them 
to  present  them  differently :  not  that  their  aims 
differed. 

Daniel  O'Connell  was  a  constitutionalist  by  nature, 
for  in  his  youth  he  had  been  shocked  by  the  excesses 
of  the  Revolution  in  France  ;  but  above  all  he  was  a 
religious  leader,  and  to  him  not  a  little  of  the  sectarian 
bitterness  of  to-day  is  due.  As  for  his  secular  efforts, 
they  were  a  failure,  for  in  John  Redmond's  words,  "  The 
English  people  have  no  conception  that  between  1829 
and  1869  no  great  measure  of  justice  for  Ireland  was 
passed."  His  life,  indeed,  seemed  to  prove  the  futility 
of  dependence  on  English  parties  to  his  impatient 
generation,  and  two  more  rebellions  were  the  result. 
Again  it  was  the  same  story  as  in  '98.  The  "  Young 
Ireland  "  movement,  instead  of  being  looked  upon  as  the 
result  of  Unionist  policy,  was  looked  upon  as  its 
justification. 

Isaac  Butt's  academic  ability  all  admit.     He  stated  the 

problem    in    exactly    the    same    terms     as     O'Connell — 

merely   substituting    the  words  Home    Rule    for    Repeal. 

But    so    helpless    was     it    in    point    of    fact    that    arms 

again     seemed    the     only     resort     after     the     failure    of 

argument,  with  the  Fenian  movement  as  the  result. 

Then  came  Parnell's  policy  of   constitutional   agitation 

and    parliamentary   obstruction,    which    raised    the    Home 

Rule   question    once    more   into   the   sphere   of   practical 

300 


THE   MESSAGE 

politics.  But  what  was  still  more  important  was  the 
rise  of  a  champion  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
animated  with  the  spirit  of  Fox  and  the  older  Liberals, 
who  began  to  see  the  havoc  wrought  by  not  only  the 
crime  but  the  folly  of  the  Union,  and  from  that  day  to 
this,  in  John  Redmond's  lifetime,  there  has  been  a  general 
spread  of  that  spirit  of  generosity.  Again  England  asks, 
"  What  does  Ireland  now  want  ? "  Again  an  Irish 
leader  answers,  "  It  is  the  same  as  it  always  has  been — 
our  National  Parliament."  England,  it  seems,  is  ready 
to  grant  it  if  she  only  could  be  certain  of  the  spirit  in 
which  it  would  be  accepted.  Hence  it  may  not  be 
useless  to  recapitulate  the  arguments  of  the  leaders  and 
see  for  ourselves  in  what  spirit  their  demands  were  put 
forward. 

First  take  Grattan's  last  protest  before  the  Union. 

*'  The    one    great    capital    and    fundamental     cause     of 

Irish   discontent   was   the   interposition    of  the  Parliament 

of  Great   Britain  in  the  legislative  regulation    of  Ireland, 

the   interference   of  that   or    any    other   Parliament   save 

only   the    King,    Lords   and    Commons    of    Ireland.  .  .  . 

Ireland   considers     the     British    Empire    as    the   greatest 

western    barrier    against    invasion    from    other   countries. 

She   hears   the   ocean   protesting   against   separation,    but 

she    hears    the   sea     likewise    protesting    against    union. 

She  follows,  therefore,  her  physical  destination,  and  obeys 

the   dispensations   of   Providence   when  she   protests,  like 

301 


JOHN   REDMOND 

the  sea,  against  the  two  situations,  both  equally  un- 
natural— separation  and  union ;  but  then  she  feels  her 
Constitution  to  be  her  great  stake  in  the  Empire  and 
the  Empire  the  great  security  of  her  Constitution.  We 
give  our  strength  to  this  western  barrier,  for  the 
security  of  our  liberty ;  but  if  British  Ministers  should  do 
that  very  mischief  which  we  apprehend  from  the 
foreigner,  namely,  take  away  the  Constitution,  they  take 
away  with  that  our  interest  in  the  British  dominions, 
and  thus  withdraw  at  once  a  great  pillar  of  liberty 
and  Empire.  That  Constitution  has  been  the  inheritance 
of  this  country  for  six  hundred  years.  This  Constitution 
the  Minister  destroys  as  the  condition  of  our  connection, 
and  he  destroys  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  British  Empire, 
the  habitation  of  Irish  loyalty." 

O'Connell's  message  was  just  the  same,  breathing  at 
once  a  spirit  of  Imperial  loyalty  and  national  indepen- 
dence. 

"  Illustrious  Lady,"  he  wrote  in  his  well-known  and 
almost  pathetic  address  to  Queen  Victoria,  "  the  rebellion 
of  1798  itself  was  almost  avowedly  and  beyond  a 
doubt  probably  fomented  to  enable  the  British  Govern- 
ment to  extinguish  the  Irish  legislative  independence 
and  to  bring  about  the  Union. 

"  We   feel    and    understand   that  if  the  Union  was  not 

in   existence,    if  Ireland    had    her    own    Parliament,    the 

popular   majority    would    have   long  since    carried   every 

302 


THE   MESSAGE 

measure  of  salutary  and  useful  legislation  and  reform. 
Instead  of  being  behindhand  with  England  and  Scot- 
land, we  should  have  taken  the  lead  and  achieved  for 
ourselves  all  and  more  than  we  have  contributed  to 
achieve  for  them.  If  there  were  no  Union,  Ireland 
would  be  the  part  of  the  British  dominions  in  which 
greater  progress  would  have  been  made  in  civil  and 
religious  liberty  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  British 
dominions.  The  Union,  and  the  Union  alone,  stands 
in  the  way  of  our  achieving  for  ourselves  every  political 
blessing." 

The  message  of  Butt  to  the  English  Parliament  was 
exactly  the  same ;  or,  if  anything,  more  moderate,  con- 
sidering that  the  federal  Parliament  would  be  supreme 
instead  of  co-ordinate. 

"  In  claiming  these  rights  and  privileges  for  our  coun- 
try," ran  one  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Home  Rule  Con- 
ference, "  we  adopt  the  principle  of  a  federal  arrange- 
ment, which  would  secure  to  the  Irish  Parliament  the 
right  of  legislating  for  and  regulating  all  matters  relating 
to  the  internal  affairs  of  Ireland,  leaving  to  the  Imperial 
Parliament  the  power  of  dealing  with  all  questions 
affecting  the  Imperial  Crown  and  Government,  legislation 
regarding  the  Colonies  and  other  Dependencies  of  the 
Crown,  in  the  relations  of  the  Empire  with  foreign 
States,  and  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  defence  and 
stability  of  the  Empire   at   large,   as   well   as   the  power 

303 


JOHN   REDMOND 

of  granting    and    providing    the    supplies    necessary    for 
Imperial  purposes." 

The  only  questions  they  thought  might  offer  a  danger 
namely,  the  land  and  the  Church,  were  to  be  excluded 
specially,  but  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that,  though 
occasionally  identified  they  were  never  identical  with 
Home  Rule,  and  though  legislative  independence  has 
been  an  argument  in  favour  of  agricultural  and  educa- 
tional reform  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  them,  and  hence 
their  settlement  cannot  diminish  its  own  merits. 

The  methods  of  Parnell  were  different ;  his  message 
was  the  same.  Speaking,  for  example,  of  the  Home 
Rule   Bill  of  1886,  he  said: 

"  We  have  always  known  the  difference,  since  the 
introduction  of  this  Bill,  between  a  co-ordinate  and  a 
subordinate  Parliament,  and  we  have  recognized  that 
the  legislature  which  the  Prime  Minister  proposes  to 
constitute  is  a  subordinate  Parliament.  Undoubtedly  I 
should  have  preferred  the  restitution  of  Grattan's  Parlia- 
ment ;  but  I  consider  that  there  are  practical  advantages 
connected  with  the  proposed  statutory  body,  limited  and 
subordinate  to  this  Imperial  Parliament  as  it  undoubtedly 
will  be,  which  will  render  it  much  more  useful  and 
advantageous  to  the  Irish  people  than  was  Grattan's 
Parliament." 

And  again : 

"I    understand   the   supremacy  of  the  Imperial    Parlia- 

304 


THE   MESSAGE 

ment  to  be  that  they  can  interfere  in  the  event  of  the 
powers  which  arc  conferred  by  this  Bill  being  abused 
under  certain  circumstances.  But  the  Nationalists  in 
accepting  this  Bill  go,  as  I  think,  under  an  honourable 
understanding  not  to  abuse  those  powers :  and  we 
pledge  ourselves  in  this  respect  for  the  Irish  people,  as 
far  as  we  can  pledge  ourselves,  not  to  abuse  those 
powers,  and  to  devote  our  energies  and  influences  to 
prevent  those  powers  from  being  abused.  .  .  .  The 
Imperial  Parliament  will  have  at  command  the  force 
which  it  reserves  to  itself,  and  it  will  be  ready  to 
intervene,  but  only  in  the  case  of  grave  necessity 
arising.  ...  I  think  that  this  is  by  far  the  best  mode 
in  which  we  can  hope  to  settle  this  question.  We  look 
upon  the  provisions  of  this  Bill  as  a  final  settlement 
of  the  question,  and  I  believe  that  the  Irish  people 
have   accepted    it   as    such  a  settlement." 

It  may  at  first  be  thought  these  quotations  are 
superfluous  in  a  biography :  on  the  contrary,  I  think 
they  add  weight  to  the  importance  of  the  present 
leader's  message,  which  would  lose  half  its  force  were  it 
something  peculiar  to  him  or  peculiar  to  his  times.  For, 
as  he  says,  "  Even  though  English  government  were  the 
best  in  the  world,   I  would  still  be  a  Home  Ruler." 

There  are,  in  fact,  few  causes  in  British  politics  which 
have  displayed  at  once  such  consistency  and  such  perse- 
verance   as    the    Home    Rule    demand.      It    is    no    new 

305  20 


JOHN   REDMOND 

demand,  for  it  is  one  with  all  Irish  history :  it  is  no 
revolutionary  experiment,  for  Ireland  was  never  so  pro- 
sperous as  when  its  principles  were  in  force.  But  it  is 
one  which  needs  interpretation  in  the  light  of  history, 
and  probably  it  is  only  that  chronic  ignorance  of  Irish 
affairs  and  chronic  indifference  to  the  Irish  demand 
which  prevents  John  Redmond's  message  of  peace  from 
being  accepted  with  alacrity  by  Liberals  and  Unionists 
alike. 

A  few  quotations  now  from  John  Redmond  himself 
will  show  how  completely  were  his  latest  utterances  in 
harmony  with  those  of  his  predecessors.  When,  as  late 
as  March  30th,  1908,  John  Redmond  introduced  his  Home 
Rule  motion,  declaring  that  the  reform  of  Irish  govern- 
ment was  of  vital  importance  both  to  England  and  Ire- 
land, and  that  only  in  legislative  and  executive  autonomy 
could  a  final  solution  be  expected,  it  was  suggested  that 
words  of  restriction  should  be  used  showing  that 
autonomy  did  not  mean  independence.  His  answer  was 
very  significant,  and,  as  the  foregoing  quotations  must 
have  shown,  very  just.  He  resisted,  he  said,  any  such 
addition,  because  Home  Rule  had  never  meant  anything 
else  except  to  its  opponents,  who  drew  from  this  mis- 
representation their  strongest  argument  against  it. 

"  We   have    always   recognized    the   supremacy   of  the 

Imperial  Parliament,   and   we  have  always  held  the  view 

that   it   would  be   impossible  to   alienate  that  supremacy 

306 


THE  MESSAGE 

in  creating  a  statutory  legislature  for  Ireland.  The  Bill 
of  1886  was  based  upon  the  maintenance  of  the 
supremacy  of  this  Parliament.  The  preamble — the  very 
first  words  of  the  second  Home  Rule  Bill,  of  1893, 
were  these — '  Without  impairing  or  restricting  the 
supremacy  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  a  legislature 
shall   be  created.'  " 

To  the  question,  "  Why  does  not  the  Irish  party 
introduce  a  Home  Rule  Bill?"  John  Redmond  replies  in 
Mr.    Barry   O'Brien's    "Dublin  Castle." 

"  If  they  mean  that  we  should  put  our  demand  into  a 
bill  and  present  it  to  the  House  of  Commons,  I  do  not 
think  there  would  be  any  use  in  that.  The  House  will 
give  no  attention  to  a  Home  Rule  Bill  which  is  not 
introduced  by  the  Prime  Minister  of  the  day  and  made 
a  Cabinet  question.  But  if  they  want  a  concrete  case, 
an  illustration  of  the  kind  of  thing  we  want,  let  them 
look  to  their  self-governing  Colonies  and  Dependencies." 

As  to  what  Irish  affairs  really  are,  John  Redmond  is 
equally  emphatic. 

"  There  again  the  position  taken  up  by  Parnell  (which 

is   the  position    we  still  hold)   was  most  reasonable.     He 

was    willing    that    the    Home    Rule    Bill    should    either 

specify   directly   the   affairs   which    should   be   left  to   an 

Irish     Parliament      or,     upon     the     other     hand,    confer 

complete   powers  of  legislation  on    the  Irish  Parliament, 

subject    to    the    exclusion    of    certain    subjects."     These 

307  20* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

subjects  were,  in  the  Bill  of  1886:     The  Crown,  peace  or 
war,    the    army,    navy,    militia,    volunteers,    foreign    and 
colonial    relations,    dignities,    titles    of    honour,    treason, 
trade.    Post   Office    and    coinage  ;  the    Irish    Parliament 
being   also    forbidden    to  make    any   laws   respecting  the 
endowment    of  religion,    or    in    restraint    of   educational 
freedom,    or    relating    to    the    Customs    or    Excise.     The 
Irish   police   were  eventually   to   be   handed   over   to  the 
Irish  Parliament,  but  while  Ireland's   contribution  to   the 
Imperial    revenue     was    to    be    in     proportion     of    one- 
fifteenth    to   the    whole,    she   was   not   to   retain    any   re- 
presentatives    in     the    Imperial     Parliament,    all    consti- 
tutional     questions     relating      to      the     power     of     the 
Irish  Parliament   being   submitted  to    the    Judicial    Com- 
mittee of  the  English  Privy  Council.     The    Bill  of  1893, 
however,    still     retained     the     Irish    members    in    West- 
minster. 

Hence,  as  John  Redmond  says,  "  When  Englishmen  ask 
us  what  we  want  we  answer  in  a  sentence  :  A  measure 
of  legislative  autonomy  similar  to  that  enjoyed  by  any 
of  your  self-governing  Colonies  or  Dependencies.  If  you 
want  an  illustration,  look  at  Canada,  look  even  at  the 
Transvaal.  The  Transvaal  is  a  new  country  and  yet  it 
enjoys  legislative  autonomy :  Ireland,  a  more  ancient 
kingdom  than  England,  does  not." 

A    union    with    England,    permanent    and    perfect ;     a 

legislative  independence,  absolute  and  guaranteed  ;    those 

308 


THE   MESSAGE 

are  the  principles  for  which  all  Irish  statesmen  have 
fought  and  which  still  remain  their  demand.  There  never 
has  been  nor  ever  can  be  any  question  of  separation  ;  there 
ever  is  and  ever  has  been  a  cry  for  domestic  autonomy. 
That,  in  point  of  fact,  is  the  whole  history  of  Ireland — 
the  first  principle  of  Irish  politics. 

Such,  then,  is  John  Redmond's  message  from  Ireland, 
for  it  is  not  merely  a  demand.  It  is  not  only  the  key 
to  a  complicated  problem,  it  is  also  the  olive  branch 
between  two  nations  whom  misgovernment  has  rendered 
hostile.  It  is  a  return  to  the  policy  most  conducive  to 
Imperial  unity  and  at  the  same  time  to  national  indivi- 
duality. But  it  is  more,  for  it  is  the  only  scheme  of 
Empire  which  can  endure  the  test  of  time  and  trial.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  think  Home  Rule  is  an  Irish  question, 
it  is  as  wide  as  the  Empire ;  in  fact,  it  is  the  very 
mainstay  of  Empire,  and  the  Minister  who  would  reverse 
its  policy,  like  Pitt  did  in  Ireland,  would  probably  lose 
the  loyalty  of  that  Empire  if  he  did  not  lose  it  altogether, 
as  Lord  North  lost  America,  while  the  Minister  who 
would  listen  to  the  cry  in  time  would  probably,  as  in 
the  case  of  Canada,  turn  a  "  rebel "  colony  into  one  of 
the  staunchest  and  most  devoted  partners  in  the  English 
dominions. 

In  the  words  of  Bernard  Shaw,  John  Redmond's 
message  to  England  is  this :  "  Let  her  look  to  her 
Empire,    for     unless    she    (England)    makes     it     such    a 

309 


JOHN  REDMOND 

federation  for  civil  strength  and  defence  that  all  free 
people  will  cling  to  it  voluntarily,  it  will  inevitably  become 
a  military  tyranny  to  prevent  them  from  abandoning  it  ; 
and  such  a  tyranny  will  drain  the  English  taxpayer  of 
his  money  more  effectually  than  its  worst  cruelties  can 
ever  drain  its  victims  of  their  liberty.  A  political  scheme 
that  cannot  be  carried  out,  except  by  soldiers,  will  not 
be  a  permanent  one.  The  soldier  is  an  anachronism  of 
which  we  must  get  rid — for  only  if  it  were  possible  to 
militarize  all  the  humanity  out  of  a  man  could  one  hope 
for  some  final  end  being  thus  attained." 


310 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    MISSION 

1\TR.  REDMOND'S  demand  for  Home  Rule  I  have 
ventured  to  call  his  "  message " :  the  practical 
effects  of  that  remedy  I  venture  to  call  his  "  mission." 
For  there  are  many  who  will  grant  the  speculative 
plausibility  of  the  remedy  but  at  the  same  time  remain 
sceptical  as  to  its  actual  efficacy.  It  was  chiefly  to 
answer  these  critics  that  John  Redmond,  after  the  defeat 
of  the  Councils  Bill,  began  a  series  of  speeches  on  the 
Home  Rule  question  in  which  almost  every  aspect  of  it 
was  touched,  and  if  the  message  gives  him  the  title  of 
Nationalist  or  Patriot,  the  mission  may  not  unfairly  be 
taken  to  claim  for  him  that  title  of  Statesman  which 
has  so  often  been  bestowed  upon  him  already. 

What,  then,  according  to  John  Redmond  are  the 
practical  aspects  of  Home  Rule,  apart  from  all  question 
of  historic  rights  or  national  aspirations  ?  They  may  be 
roughly  divided  into  five — the  industrial,  the  economic, 
the  social,  the  religious  and  the  Imperial  aspects. 

If  there  is  anything  that  is  characteristic  of  Irish 
movements    it    is    their   antagonism  :    and    this    even    in 

311 


JOHN    REDMOND 

spite  of  the  fact  that  they  are  really  in  themselves  com- 
plementary. If  there  is  anything  which  is  characteristic 
of  the  present  leader,  it  is  the  comprehensiveness  of  his 
policy.  He  has  many  enemies.  Mr.  Sydney  Brooks  even 
wonders  "  whether  he  is  any  longer  in  touch  with  the 
ins  and  outs  of  Irish  sentiment,"  and  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  deplores  the  fact  that  the  political  leaders  do 
not  "  as  a  class  take  a  prominent  or  even  active  part  in 
business  life,"  while  the  Sinn  Feiners  have  declared  open 
war  upon  the  very  existence  of  the  party,  as  utterly 
useless.  How  far  these  accusations  are  justified  in  fact 
may  be  judged  from  the  following  analysis  of  the  leader's 
speeches. 

To  begin  with  the  industrial  movement.  It  began  in 
the  days  of  the  split  in  1895,  ^"d  was  the  outcome  of 
the  Recess  Committee,  which  was  composed  of  prominent 
leaders  of  public  opinion,  together  with  members  of 
Parliament.  Sir  Horace,  then  Mr.,  Plunkett  suggested 
that  if  its  dictates  were  carried  out  the  Irish  people 
would  cease  to  desire  Home  Rule.  The  result  was  that 
Mr.  Justin  McCarthy  refused  point  blank  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  it,  while  Colonel  Saunderson  refused  to 
sit  on  the  same  committee  with  John  Redmond.  On  the 
other  hand,  as  Sir  Horace  goes  on  to  observe  in  his 
"  Ireland  in  the  New  Century,"  John  Redmond  shared 
the  opinion  of  his  few  followers,  chief  among  whom  was 

Mr.  Field,  that  man  cannot    live   on   politics   alone.     He 

312 


THE   MISSION 

joined  the  committee  and  "acted  throughout  in  a 
manner  which  was  broad,  statesmanlike,  conciliatory  and 
as  generous  as  it  was  courageous."  lie  was  not,  as  he 
wrote,  as  sanguine  as  the  originator  of  the  movement, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  said,  "  I  am  unwilling  to  take 
the  responsibility  of  declining  to  aid  in  any  effort  to 
promote  useful  legislation  for  Ireland."  And  so  success- 
ful was  the  enterprise  that,  as  Sir  Horace  observes,  when 
a  Nationalist  member  met  a  Tory  member  of  the  Recess 
Committee,  he  laughed  at  the  success  with  which  they 
had  wheedled  a  measure  of  Industrial  Home  Rule  out  of 
a  Unionist  Government.  It  was  only,  in  fact,  when  the 
leaders,  most  of  them  anti-Home  Rulers,  tried  to  turn  it 
into  a  substitute  for  self-government  that  John  Redmond 
severed  his  connection  with  it,  thus  writing  to  the  editor  of 
the  Irish  World  in  New  York  : 

"  The  promotion  of  Irish  industries  is  so  praiseworthy  an 
object  that  some  of  our  people  in  America  have  been 
deceived  in  this  matter.  I  myself,  indeed,  at  one  time 
entertained  the  belief  in  the  good  intentions  of  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  and  his  friends,  but  recent  bouts  have  entirely  un- 
deceived me  :  and  Sir  Horace  Plunkett's  recent  book,  full 
as  it  is  of  undisguised  contempt  for  the  Irish  race,  makes  it 
plain  to  me  that  the  real  object  of  the  movement  in 
question  is  to  undermine  the  National  party  and  divert  the 
minds  of  our  people  from  Home  Rule,  which  is  the  only 
thing  which  can  ever  lead  to  real  revival  of  Irish  industry." 

313 


JOHN! REDMOND 

It  was  a  thousand  pities  that  the  two  should  have 
become  antagonistic,  but  when  all  has  been  said  and 
done,  it  will  be  found  that  John  Redmond's  scheme  is 
more  comprehensive,  since  it  includes  that  of  Sir  Horace ; 
and  one  wonders,  not  why  John  Redmond  is  not  an 
industrialist,  but  why  Sir  Horace  is  not  a  Home  Ruler  ; 
in  fact,  it  seems  a  puzzle  to  conceive  how  self-govern- 
ment could  possibly  prove  fatal  to  industry.  Certainly 
John  Redmond  does  not  think  so.  For  example,  speak- 
ing at  Maryborough  on   13th  of  October,  1907,  he  said: 

"  Now,  what  can  we  do  ourselves  ?  It  is  a  question  of 
a  little  thought,  and  of  a  little  unity  of  action  amongst 
the  people.  Here  is  a  circular  that  we  have  recently 
issued  from  the  United  Irish  League  Offices.  We  have 
arranged  in  Dublin  in  connection  with  that  office  an 
Industrial  Bureau,  and  we  hope  to  work  that  all  through 
Ireland,  so  as  to  induce  the  people  to  give  a  chance  to 
their  own  industries.     Let  me  read  the  circular  : 

" '  Members  of  the  United  Irish  League  should  use 
Irish  manufactured  goods. 

" '  Branches  are  required  to  exercise  their  influence  in 
every  locality,  to  secure  that  in  the  giving  of  local  con- 
tracts a  decided  preference  should  be  given  by  elected 
public  bodies  to  goods  of  Irish  manufacture. 

"  '  That  the  local  public  bodies  be  requested  to  insist 
that  the  Irish  trade  mark  should  be  stamped  on  all 
goods  offered  as  Irish  made. 

314 


THE   MISSION 

" '  That  at  every  meeting  held  in  furtherance  of  the 
National  campaign,  now  being  inaugurated,  a  resolution 
dealing  with  the  promotion  of  Irish  industries  should  be 
given  a  prominent  place  on  the  programme  of  the 
meeting,  and,  as  far  as  practicable,  sub-committees  of  the 
organization  should  be  appointed  to  give  effect  to  the 
resolution. 

" '  That  deputations  should  be  appointed  in  each  locality 
to  urge  on  shopkeepers  the  necessity  of  stocking  Irish  goods. 

" '  That  individual  members  of  the  organization  be 
requested  to  give  their  custom  to  shopkeepers  who  stock 
Irish  goods. 

" '  That  branches  be  requested  to  have  displayed  in 
their  meeting  rooms  the  names  of  shopkeepers  and 
merchants  who  stock  Irish  manufactured  goods  in  their 
districts,  and  that  they  instruct  their  secretaries  to  send 
to  every  householder  in  each  district  the  names  of  such 
shopkeepers  and  merchants  as  give  preference  to  goods 
of  Irish  manufacture. 

" '  The  traders  in  each  district  in  Ireland  will  be 
supplied,  on  application  to  the  Industrial  Bureau  of  the 
United  Irish  League  at  their  offices  in  Dublin,  with  a 
full  list  of  Irish  manufacturers :  and,  finally,  we  invite 
the  public  everywhere  to  enter  into  communication  with 
this  Bureau,  and  to  assist  us  in  inducing  the  Irish 
people  themselves  to  give  a  chance  to  their  own  manu- 
facturers, by  giving  a  preference  to  Irish  goods.' " 

315 


JOHN   REDMOND 

The  circular  sounds  like  one  issued  by  the  Sinn 
Fein  party ;  but  it  shows  how  at  root  there  is  little 
reason  for  the  attacks  of  that  party  on  the  Irish  leader. 

"  Now,  what  is  the  moral  of  all  this  I  have  been 
saying  to  you  ? "  he  continues.  "  The  moral  is  this — 
that  the  industrial  decay  of  Ireland  is  the  greatest 
of  all  condemnations  of  English  rule  in  this  land  ; 
that  Ireland  is  a  country  with  great  natural  resources  ; 
that  the  Irish  people  have  proved  by  their  past 
history  that  they  have  an  aptitude  and  an  inherent 
capacity  for  industrial  pursuits  ;  that  Ireland  was  once  a 
country  almost  as  prosperous  industrially  as  England 
herself;  but  as  soon  as  she  became  a  serious  rival  in 
her  markets  and  the  markets  of  the  world,  those  indus- 
tries were  totally  suppressed  by  the  English  Parliament ; 
that  Ireland,  during  the  eighteen  years  that  she  had  her 
own  Parliament,  revived  those  industries,  and  that  those 
industries  died  away  again  from  the  very  hour  that  self- 
government  was  taken  from  our  people.  Now,  what 
answer  has  any  English  statesman  of  any  party  to  give 
to  that  argument  for  Home  Rule  ?  There  is  no  argu- 
ment in  reply  ;  and  I  therefore  to-day  put  forward  this 
one  point  in  the  Home  Rule  case — that  the  industrial 
decay  of  Ireland  alone,  if  there  was  no  other  argument, 
would  be  conclusive  proof  of  the  justice  and  the  neces- 
sity of  our  demand." 

The   second    aspect   of   Home   Rule    is    the    economic 

316 


THE   MISSION 

aspect.  We  can  only  judge  it,  as  John  Redmond  main- 
tains, by  the  ordinary  tests  applied  to  all  Governments, 
and  by  every  one  of  these,  he  maintains,  the  Government 
of  Ireland  stands  condemned.  And  there  is  probably  no 
speech  of  his  which  displays  less  sentiment  or  more 
science  than  the  one  in  which  he  treated  the  Irish  de- 
mand at  the  Mansion  House,  Dublin,  on  4th  September, 
1907.     It  is  too  long  to  quote,  but  was  to  this  effect: 

By  the  test  of  population,  the  Union  has  been  proved 
a  failure,  for  it  has  cost  half  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland. 
Take  the  test  of  religious  liberty  ;  it  was  only  a  year  ago 
a  University  Bill  was  passed,  and  the  great  majority  of 
Catholics  are  in  inferior  positions.  Take  the  contentment 
of  the  people  during  the  past  century  ;  there  have  been 
three  rebellions  suppressed  in  blood.  Take  prosperity  ; 
nearly  all  the  industries  are  dead  and  a  famine  swept  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  from  Ireland.  Take  industrial  de- 
velopment ;  railway  freights  are  higher  in  Ireland  than 
in  any  country  in  the  world.  Take  education  ;  the  level 
is  lower  than  anywhere  in  Europe.  Take  the  cost  of 
government  per  head ;  it  has  doubled,  while  the  popu- 
lation has  halved  ;  and  in  addition  there  is  universal  dis- 
satisfaction, little  respect  for  law,  which  is  adminis- 
tered in  such  a  political  spirit  as  to  have  practically 
no  hold  whatever  on  the  people. 

Such  is  the  picture  of  which  John  Redmond  draws 
each    detail    separately    in    the    course   of  those   famous 

317 


JOHN  REDMOND 

speeches  of  1907  which  I  may  term  his  great  "Apology 
for  Home  Rule."  Nothing  but  self-government,  he  main- 
tains, can  or  ever  will  be  the  full  remedy  for  that  system 
of  Castle  boards  which  make  the  administration  of  Ire- 
land at  once  the  costliest  and  the  least  efficient  of  any 
in  Europe. 

There  is  more  than  sentiment  in  such  an  indictment. 
It  would  be  made  even  by  a  business  man  ;  and  therein 
does  John  Redmond  differ  from  those  patriots  with  whom 
love  of  country  is  everything  and  understanding  of  it 
nothing  ;  who  think  that  Nationalism  is  not  so  much  a 
matter  of  the  brain  as  of  the  heart ;  and  it  is  probably 
for  this  reason  that  he  has  been  given  by  the  Press  the 
double  title  of  statesman  and  Nationalist.  His  mission  is 
something  more  than  the  vision  of  an  uneducated  en- 
thusiast :  it  is  the  practical  programme  of  a  man  versed 
in  history  and  economics,  and  in  not  only  the  art  of 
loving  his  native  land,  but  the  science  of  serving  it. 

The  third,  or  social  aspect  of  Home  Rule,  though  per- 
haps less  thought  of,  is  nevertheless  one  of  the  most 
important,  for  Ireland  is  to-day  divided  into  some  six  or 
more  parties.  The  classes  are  antagonistic,  the  creeds  are 
antagonistic,  the  castes  are  antagonistic,  and  all  of  them 
grow  up  in  two  water-tight  compartments.  The  moneyed 
classes  and  the  common  people  have  no  sympathy ; 
Belfast   and    Trinity   are    looked   upon   as    dangerous    to 

Catholics  ;    the   word    English   or   English-educated    is   a 

318 


THE   MISSION 

term  of  reproach  among  Nationalists,  and  a  mark  of  dis- 
tinction in  society.  All  these  parties  move  in  different 
planes  of  thought  and  action,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
they  have  not  a  common  meeting-ground  as  they  would 
have  in  an  Irish  House  of  Commons.  In  Grattan's  day, 
there  was  far  less  antagonism  of  creed  than  in 
O'Conncll's  (according  to  Lecky)  ;  while  the  ParHament 
of  1782  made  Dublin  a  centre  of  intellectual  activity 
which  united  all  classes  in  the  respect  and  development 
of  Irish  talent  and  enterprise.  Ireland  is  not  yet  a 
nation  and  cannot  be  until  all  these  wounds  are  healed. 
Until  there  is  a  residential  aristocracy  and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  can  meet  them  upon  terms  of 
mutual  interest  and  mutual  respect,  Ireland  can  only  be 
a  bundle  of  sects  and  factions. 

It  is  this  national  union  which  Home  Rule  would 
inevitably  bring  about  ;  and  it  is  one  far  more  healthy 
and  far  more  lasting  than  any  of  parchment  or  of  steel. 

"  No,  we  Catholic  Irishmen,"  as  John  Redmond  said  in 
1886,  "repudiate  this  accusation  of  intolerance  with 
scorn  and  indignation.  We  do  not  even  understand  the 
word  religious  bigotry.  By  the  Irish  nation  we  do  not 
mean  any  class  or  sect  or  creed.  By  Irish  independence 
we  mean  liberty  for  every  Irishman,  whether  in  his  veins 
runs  the  blood  of  the  Celt  or  the  Norman,  the  Crom- 
wellian  or  the  Williamite,  whether  he  professes  the 
ancient   faith   of   Ireland   or   the   newer   creed  which  has 

319 


JOHN    REDMOND 

given  to  our  country  some  of  the  bravest  and    purest   of 
her  patriots." 

This  is  what  I  should  like  to  call  the  "  Unionism " 
of  John  Redmond,  for  only  by  a  return  of  the  Parlia- 
ment to  Dublin  can  it  be  expected  to  bring  back  that 
real  centre  of  national  life  that  was  there  previously. 
Prior  to  the  Union  there  was  real  unity ;  since  the  Union 
there  has  been  nothing  but  faction.  There  is  an  exodus 
of  native  talent ;  there  is  an  immigration  of  exploiters 
and  men  indifferent  to  the  genius  of  the  race.  There 
is  no  national  encouragement  for  Irish  art  or  literature, 
simply  because  there  is  no  centre  of  Irish  thought. 
That  is  what  John  Redmond  pleads  for,  and  to  my 
mind  it  is  one  of  the  strongest  and  healthiest  of  the 
results  Home  Rule  would  have. 

There  are,  however,  two  obstacles  to  this  new 
unionism  which  have  given  rise,  perhaps,  to  more  mis- 
understanding than  any  others,  and  are  the  two  "  bogeys  " 
by  which  Home  Rule  is  distorted.  The  one  is  the 
"  Clerical "  scare  ;  the  other  the  "  Separation "  scare 
According  to  Mr.  Herbert  Paul,  John  Redmond  is  the 
"  anti-clerical  par  excellence "  ;  according  to  "  Pat's " 
Sorrows  of  Ireland  he  is  the  very  opposite.  "  A  consti- 
tution is  demanded  for  Ireland,"  writes  the  latter  ;  "  an 
independent  parliament  with  an  executive  responsible  to 
it.  Up  to  a  certain  point  this  is  a  constitutional  pro- 
position.    But  who    is    to    accept    the   new   Constitutioo 

320 


THE   MISSION 

if  granted  :  Cardinal  Logue  or  his  deputy,  Mr.  Redmond  ? 
Obviously  not  the  people,  in  any  case.  And  yet,  apart 
from  the  people,  the  proposition  has  no  meaning  in 
terms  of  democracy." 

The  question  is  far  too  delicate  to  be  made  a  personal 
one,  but  considering  that  the  only  reason,  according  to 
some  politicians,  why  Home  Rule  was  granted  to  Botha, 
while  it  was  refused  to  Redmond,  is  that  the  former  was 
a  free  man,  and  the  latter  a  priests'  puppet,  it  becomes 
imperative  to  treat  the  matter  ;  especially  since  Redmond, 
during  the  Education  crisis,  was  accused  by  the  Clericals 
of  being  animated  by  "  the  spirit  of  Henry  VIII.,"  and 
according  to  one  prelate  was  "a  second  Clemenceau." 
Of  course,  it  is  notorious  that  all  public  controversy  is 
conducted  in  terms  of  hyperbole  ;  but  they  are  none  the 
less  spoken  in  earnest  for  all  that. 

Taking  John  Redmond,  then,  as  spokesman  of  the 
Parliamentarians,  what  is  likely  to  be  the  religious  out- 
come of  Home  Rule  ?  But,  first,  let  us  hear  the  two 
extreme  views  of  which  John  Redmond  appears  the 
mean.  Colonel  Saunderson  may  be  taken  for  one ; 
Bernard  Shaw  for  the  other. 

If  ever  there  were  a  typical  embodiment  of  the  Ulster 

spirit,  it  was    Colonel    Saunderson,    for    in    Ireland    there 

has  never  been  that  entente   cordiale  with    Rome    known 

as    the    Oxford    Movement,    and    the    Protestantism    of 

Ulster  is  the  Protestantism  of  Tyburn,     Hence  his  speech 

321  21 


JOHN   REDMOND 

at  Portadovvn  in  1893  was  in  every  way  a  character- 
istic one.  I  merely  quote  extracts  from  it  as  indicating 
attitudes  of  mind  rather  than  as  expressions  of  arguments, 
for  the  key  to  an  Irish  question  is  the  spirit  in  which  it 
is  treated,  and  these  are  not  bad  examples  of  the 
wrong  spirit  in  which  it  is  often  approached  by  some. 

Speaking  for  Irish  Protestants,  he  said  "  that  he  was 
opposed  to  the  setting  up  in  this  country  of  a  new 
ascendancy  more  tyrannical  and  more  detestable  than 
any  which  had  gone  before,  namely,  the  ascendancy  of 
the  Irish  Roman  Catholic  Church ;  "  but  even  this  was 
too  moderate  a  denunciation,  and  a  short  time  later,  at 
Lurgan,  he  spoke  of  Home  Rule  as  the  great  clerical 
danger.  Of  course,  he  admitted  that  every  priest  was 
not  an  Archbishop  Walsh.  Some  were  better,  some 
worse ;  some  were  excellent  men ;  some  bishops  had 
certainly  condemned  the  criminal  action  of  the  Land 
League  ;  but  what  did  that  matter  ?  If  they  had  Home 
Rule,  who  was  the  priest  who  would  then  rule  Ireland  ? 
Why,  Archbishop  Walsh.  He  was  the  man  who  returned 
over  seventy  members  to  the  House  of  Commons;  he  was 
the  wire-puller,  and  he  even  objected  to  the  Coronation 
Oath  being  changed  as  inexpedient  in  the  Protestant 
interests  of  the  country." 

As  to  a  Catholic  University,  he    could  see    nothing  in 

it     but    an    organized     permanent     domination     of    the 

clergy — a    singular   contrast    with   the    broad-mindedness 

322 


THE   MISSION 

in    which    John     Redmond     was     ready    to     grant     the 

Belfast  Presbyterian  University.      "  There  were  priests  in 

all    denominations,    and    he    disliked     them    all    equally," 

the    Colonel    once    said,    in    a    speech    in    the    House    of 

Commons.      "  If   the     House    wanted     to     know      what 

kind   of   citizens    Roman    Catholic    education    in     Ireland 

turned    out,   it  had    not  far   to    look.      There  were  about 

eighty  specimens  below  the   gangway    opposite.     He    did 

not   say    bad    specimens,    for    that    would    be    uncivil     to 

members  opposite  ;  and  he  did  not  say    good    specimens, 

because  he  thought  that  would  be  insulting   to    the  Irish 

people.     They   openly    avowed    they    hated     the    British 

Empire.      Whoever    struck    at    Great    Britain    was     their 

friend.     Was  this  assembly   going  to  increase  the  output 

of  this  product  ?  " 

If  this   be,    as    it    undoubtedly    is,    a   fair   example   by 

the    Protestant   spokesman    of  the    religious    attitude    of 

the  minority    in    Ireland,  I    may  say,  comparing    it   with 

the   Catholic  spokesman,    that  Ireland    has   more   to   fear 

from  Protestant    ascendancy   than   Catholic  ;    while,  if  it 

be  taken    as   typical  of  the    Unionist    attitude,    it    would 

certainly    justify   the     wildest    dreams    of    the     Fenians. 

But   it     is     merely    such    stuff   as    scares    are    made    of. 

There    are    many    who  differ    from    Colonel    Saunderson 

not   only   in    spirit   but   in     prophecy,    and    chief  among 

these    is    Mr.     Bernard    Shaw,   whose  wonderful  "  Preface 

to    Politicians"   in    "John    Bull's   Other     Island,"     forms 

323  21* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

one  of  the  ablest  antidotes  to  "  Popery "  which  the 
most  bigoted  atheist  could  wish  for  with  his  dying 
breath. 

"  Just  consider  the  Home  Rule  question  in  the  light 
of  that  very  English  characteristic  of  the  Irish  people, 
their  political  hatred  of  priests,"  he  writes.  ..."  Do 
not  be  distracted  by  the  shriek  of  indignant  denial  from 
the  Catholic  papers  and  from  those  who  have  witnessed 
the  charming  relations  between  the  Irish  peasants  and 
their  spiritual  fathers.  .  .  .  For  an  Irish  Catholic  may 
like  his  priest  as  a  man  and  revere  him  as  a  confessor 
and  spiritual  pastor,  whilst  being  implacably  determined 
to  seize  the  first  opportunity  of  throwing  off  his  yoke. 
This  is  political  hatred  and  is  the  only  hatred  that 
civilization  allows  to  be  mortal  hatred.  Realize,  then, 
that  the  popular  party  in  Ireland  is  seething  with 
rebellion  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Church. 

"  Let  us  suppose  that  the  establishment,"  he  con- 
tinues, "of  a  National  Government  were  to  annihilate 
the  oligarchic  party,  by  absorbing  the  Protestant  gar- 
rison and  making  it  a  Protestant  National  guard.  The 
Roman  Catholic  laity,  now  a  cipher,  would  organize 
itself,  and  a  revolt  against  Rome  and  against  the 
priesthood  would  ensue.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 
would  become  the  official  Irish  Church.  The  Irish 
Parliament  would  insist  on  a  voice  in  the  promotion 
of  churchmen  :    fees    and    contributions   would    be    regu- 

324 


THE   MISSION 

lated  :  blackmail  would  be  resisted :  sweating  in  con- 
ventual institutions,  factories  and  workshops  would  be 
stopped  :  and  the  ban  would  be  taken  off  the  Univer- 
sities. In  a  word,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  against 
which  Dublin  Castle  is  powerless,  would  meet  the 
one  force  on  earth  that  can  cope  v\'ith  it  victoriously. 
That  force  is  democracy :  a  thing  far  more  catholic 
than  itself.  Until  that  force  is  let  loose  against  it,  the 
Protestant  garrison  can  do  nothing  to  the  priesthood 
except  consolidate  it  and  drive  the  people  to  rally 
round  it  in  defence  of  their  altars  against  the  foreigner 
and  the  heretic.  When  this  is  let  loose,  the  Catholic 
laity  will  make  short  work  of  sacerdotal  tyranny  in 
Ireland,  as  it  has  done  in  France  and  Italy.  Home 
Rule  will  herald  the  day  when  the  Vatican  will  go 
the  way  of  Dublin  Castle  and  the  Island  of  Saints 
assume  the  headship  of  its  own  Church.  It  may  seem 
incredible  that  long  after  the  last  Orangeman  shall  lay 
down  his  chalk  for  ever,  the  familiar  scrawl  on  every 
blank  wall  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  '  To  Hell  with  the 
Pope,'  may  reappear  in  the  South,  traced  by  the  hands 
of  Catholics  who  shall  have  forgotten  the  traditional 
counter  legend,  '  To  hell  with  King  William '  (of  glori- 
ous, pious  and  immortal  memory),  but  it  may  happen 
so." 

Were  Mr.    Redmond  to  embody  such  a  proposition  in 
an    election    manifesto,    it    would    probably    sweep    the 

325 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Unionist  seats  and  capture  the  whole  Nonconformist 
vote  ;  but  it  would  forfeit  every  Catholic  one.  But 
there  is  something  far  too  sober  in  John  Redmond,  a 
part  of  his  English  qualities,  one  might  say  (or  as 
Bernard  Shaw  would  say,  Irish),  to  substitute  one  form 
of  hysteria  for  another.  In  fact,  if  ever  there  was  an 
embodiment  of  vigorous  lay  spirit,  which  did  not  run 
wildly  into  anti-clericalism,  it  is  the  present  leader. 
Like  Grattan,  he  sees  that  Nationalism  is  not  a 
religious  question,  and  that  there  are  many  temples, 
but  only  one  forum.  But  were  he  as  rabidly  Catholic 
as  Colonel  Saunderson  was  Protestant,  Catholicism  might, 
I  grant,  once  more  appear  in  a  guise  hardly  less  terrible 
than  the  Spanish  Inquisition :  while  if  he  took  Mr, 
Bernard  Shaw's  attitude.  Home  Rule  might  be  added  to 
the  ten  persecutions  of  ancient  Rome. 

The  Irish  party,  as  he  told  Pope  Pius  X.,  is  not 
a  Catholic  party  like  the  German  Centrum  or  the 
followers  of  the  Comte  de  Mun  ;  it  is  purely  a  national 
party,  and,  in  all  probability,  so  would  the  Parliament 
of  Ireland  be;  and  like  some  colonial  pro-consul  must 
have  done  in  the  Roman  Senate,  discussing  the  Home 
Rule  bills  of  those  days,  he  pleads  for  equality  of  treat- 
ment for  all  creeds.  He  is  a  Roman,  not  a  Romanist, 
and  he  is  as  much  opposed  to  the  disqualifying  of  a 
University   professor    for    the    shape    of    his    collar  as  he 

would    be    to   the    re-establishing    of    an    Upper    House 

326 


THE   MISSION 

composed  entirely  of  mitred  heads.  Nor,  indeed,  are  the 
clergy  themselves  averse  to  or  unaware  of  the  strengthen- 
ing of  the  lay  position  which  would  ensue  from  the 
granting  of  Home  Rule  and  University  teaching.  Thus 
Dr.  O'Dea,  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  in  his  third  report  on 
education  (p.  296),  remarked  :  "  1  am  convinced  that  if 
the  void  in  the  lay  leadership  of  the  country  be  filled 
up  by  higher  education  of  the  better  classes  of  the 
Catholic  party,  the  power  of  the  priests,  so  far  as  it  is 
abnormal  or  unnecessary,  will  pass  away." 

As  it  was  in  the  day  of  the  Parliament  of  1782,  when 
one  of  the  first   resolutions   of  the  Protestant  leader  was 
one  of  sympathy  for  their  Catholic  fellow-subjects,  so  in 
all      probability      would      it      be      again.     Protestantism 
unallied   with    English   political    tyranny  would  lose  half 
its  sting  and  religion  become  far    more    a    topic    for   the 
pulpit    than    the    tribune.     Certainly  as  far  as  the  leader 
himself   is    concerned,  it    would,  as  the  following  extract 
from    an    American   speech   testifies  :   "  If  I  believed  that 
Home  Rule  would  mean    for   the    Protestants   of  Ireland, 
not  the   oppression    at    the  stake,    which    is    unlikely  and 
impossible,  but   the  abrogation  of  one  whit  of  their  just 
civil     and     religious     liberties,     I     would     as     an     Irish 
Nationalist    oppose    Home    Rule,    and    would     quit    my 
country  whose  people  had  not  learned  the  first  elements 
of    liberty.     We     Irish     Catholic     Nationalists    owe    too 
much    in    our    past    history    to    our     Protestant    fellovv- 

327 


JOHN   REDMOND 

countrymen  ever  to  be  guilty  of  the  baseness  of 
betrayal.  We  do  not  forget  the  history  of  Ireland.  We 
do  not  forget  that  it  was  Protestants  who  won  the 
Parliament  of  1782  ;  that  it  was  Protestants  who  organ- 
ized the  Society  of  United  Irishmen,  both  before  and 
after  it  became  a  revolutionary  organization.  We  do 
not  forget  that  it  was  Protestants  who  gave  the 
franchise  to  Catholics  in  1793  ;  that  Protestants  led  the 
rebel  army  in  '98  ;  that  Protestants  gallantly  but  vainly 
defended  Irish  liberty  in  1800;  and  we  do  not  forget 
that  every  day  that  has  passed  since  has  witnessed  the 
efforts  of  Protestants  to  defend  and  promote  civil  and 
religious  liberty  in  the  national  life  of  Ireland." 

Lastly  we  come  to  the  most  serious  of  all  the  aspects 
of  the  Home  Rule  case — its  Imperial  aspect.  Is  it  a 
force  in  the  direction  of  disruption,  or  is  it  the  strength- 
ening of  the  bonds  of  federation  ?  On  John  Redmond's 
answer  to  this  question  he  and  his  demand  probably 
stand  or  fall.  Is  he  a  Separationist  or  an  Imperialist. 
Most  distinctly  an  Imperialist,  I  say,  if  his  speeches  and 
the  traditions  of  Irish  leadership  are  to  be  relied  on. 
What,  then,  of  tho.se  American  speeches  saying  the 
Irish  claim  independence  ?  Simply  that  those  speeches 
are  their  own  interpreters  and  that  in  Home  Rule  there 
is  full  recognition  of  nationality.  Grattan  never  meant 
more :     Butt  never  meant  less.     As  to  Ireland  becoming 

hostile,  I    can  only  say    that  I    can    .see    no    reason  that 

328 


THE   MISSION 

she  should  care  to  abandon  those  great  Colonies  she 
has  helped  to  people,  that  great  Power  which  has  been 
built  up  by  the  sinews  of  her  own  sons,  and  bring  down 
the  historic  Empire  of  which  her  genius  has  been  one 
of  the  shining  lights.  And  as  far  as  I  read  John 
Redmond,  that  is  not  only  his  idea,  but  his  very 
motive  for  Home  Rule.  "  Here  at  the  heart  of  the 
Empire,"  he  wrote  in  1903,  "lurks  its  chiefest  danger. 
If  it  was  worth  millions  by  the  hundreds  and  lives  by 
the  tens  of  thousands  to  add  the  Transvaal  and  the 
Orange  Free  State  to  the  Empire,  what  price  can  pay 
for  a  prosperous  and  contented  Ireland." 

So,  too,  his  great  example  of  Home  Rule,  the  position 
of  Canada,  breathes  the  same  spirit.  There  the  two 
peoples  were  almost  at  war,  and  the  two  creeds  dis- 
trusted each  other :  yet  both  were  eager  for  Union 
yet  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Washington.  For  years  the 
English  Government  could  only  think  of  Coercion  as  a 
means  to  unity,  until  when  the  Canadians  were  ready 
to  take  the  Home  Rule  by  arms — they  were  being 
refused  when  they  pressed  it  b}-  argument — it  was 
granted  them ;  and  all  the  scares  of  terrorists  were 
proved  false.  They  were  trusted  and  they  \\-ere  true, 
and  to-day  the  Colony  of  rebels  has  become  the  very 
model  of  Imperial  allegiance.  The  parallel  to  the  case 
of  Ireland  is  absolutely  complete  even  to  the  moral ; 
and    hardly    a    month    passes    without    John    Redmond 

329 


JOHN   REDMOND 

repeating  some  part  of  that  brilliant  address  to  the 
Young  Scots  in  Edinburgh  in  which  he  dealt  fully  with 
the  history  of  Canadian  Home  Rule. 

How,  in  the  face  of  this  and  other  assurances,  the 
Irish  leader's  mission  can  be  distorted  into  a  scheme 
inaugurating  the  instant  disruption  of  the  Empire  it 
seems  impossible  to  explain  save  by  the  total  absence 
of  political  honesty  or  intellectual  sanity.  It  would  be 
inaugurating  a  policy  that  can  only  be  called  suicidal, 
as  Mr.  Iwan  Muller  in  the  Fortnightly  observed  ;  for  the 
establishment  of  an  Irish  Republic  could  only  be  a 
punishment,  not  a  boon,  since  Ireland  could  be  industrially 
ruined  in  a  month  by  an  alteration  of  a  few  pence  in 
the  Continental  tariffs.  No  one  understands  that  better 
than  John  Redmond.  No,  every  Irish  leader  has  been 
a  Home  Ruler  and  an  Imperialist.  They  have  stood 
out  for  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  not  so  much 
from  choice  as  from  necessity ;  and  nothing  but 
geographical  changes  can  alter  that.  This  <!s  why  his 
mission  is  so  statesmanlike,  establishing  as  it  does 
industrial  and  economic  progress  upon  a  national  basis, 
and  developing  that  nationalism  without  detriment  either 
to  creed  or  to  class,  under  the  protection  of  the  great 
Empire  it  has  done  its  share,  and  more,  in  establishing. 
With  the  Home  Rule  Bill  starts  a  new  page  in  Anglo- 
Irish  history  ;  and  the  Home  Rule  of  John  Redmond 
is  not  a  danger  but  an  opportunity. 

330 


THE   IRONY   OF   CIRCUMSTANCE. 

Mit.  John  Rkdmosd    ■■  WKI.L.    IF   I   CAN'T   RULE   IN    DUBLIN,   I   CAN   HERE  '  '• 

Reproduced  f rum  '^  I'linc/i,"  I'i'hriiarii  21111,  I'.lld,  hii  sixeial  i>frinisiion  a/  t/if  jiz-ojiri'loi-n, 
J/f'j'AVj'.  lirtiithnru^  Aijnfu-  i{-  Coi/tj/auu, 


[Tu /(lie  }}.  3.10. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    PRESENT   POSITION 

n^HE  death  of  the  greatest  Home  Ruler  in  England, 
as  King  Edward  VII.  has  been  called,  has  for  the 
while  suspended  the  constitutional  struggle  between  the 
aristocracy  and  the  democracy  of  England  begun  in 
December,  1909,  by  the  rejection  of  the  Budget.  For  the 
union  of  Nationalists,  Labour  members  and  the  Liberals 
has  long  since  raised  the  issue  out  of  the  narrow  sphere 
of  party  politics.  As  far  as  John  Redmond  is  con- 
cerned, it  places  him  in  the  position  of  his  life.  No 
other  Irish  leader  before  him  has  held  such  a  sway, 
either  in  point  of  strength  or  personality,  because  for 
the  moment  he  has  ceased  to  be  the  leader  of  a  faction 
and  become  the  spokesman  of  a  cause  as  world-wide  as 
the  Empire — that  of  democracy. 

But  if,  as  the  Punch  cartoon  represents,  he  can  rule 
at  Westminster,  the  rise  of  a  new  Irish  party  under  Mr. 
William  O'Brien,  one  of  the  most  significant  events 
since  the  days  of  Parnell,  has  not  a  little  weakened  his 
power  in  Ireland  just  at  the  time  when  unity  is  most 
required.     Ostensibly    arising    out    of  a    dispute   over   the 

331 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Budget,  it  is  really  a  reversal  of  the  old  Parnellite 
methods  and  the  inauguration  of  an  entente  move- 
ment which  will  seek  to  bring  about  Home  Rule 
through  the  consent  and  co-operation  of  all  parties. 
Hence,  some  mention  must  be  made  of  the  events  of 
the  early  months  of  1910,  which  for  the  most  part  are 
too  recent  politics  to  need  chronicling    in  detail. 

The   pledge   given  by    the  Premier  at  the  Albert    Hall 
was  the    keynote  of  the  whole  situation,  and   accordingly 
the    General     Election    of    19 10    was    fought    upon    the 
Veto    instead    of  upon  Tariff  Reform.     The    result   gave 
to    the    Liberals   only    a    bare    majority    that     could    be 
counted    upon  the  fingers  of   one    hand,  hence    they    had 
to   depend    for   their    existence  upon    the  support   of   the 
Labour  and   the    Nationalist   vote.     Had    the    issue   been 
one    of  purely    party    politics,    the    position    might    have 
been  insecure  under    the  dictatorship  of  an  Irish   leader  : 
for  example,  had  it  been  fought  upon  the   Budget  alone. 
As    a   matter  of  fact,    the  point  raised  by  its  rejection — 
far  more  important    than   the    measure    itself — had  raised 
it  into  a   sphere  of  national  significance.     It   became   the 
struggle   of  a   representative   against  an    unrepresentative 
body.      In    Ireland    especially    the    peers    had    by    their 
continual  delay  and  rejection  of  legislation  proved  them- 
selves the  hereditary  foes  of  the  people  :  in  England  they 
had    been    no    less    hostile    to    the    onward    progress    of 
democracy.     For  once,  therefore,  Englishmen    and    Irish- 

332 


THE   PRESENT   POSITION 

men  found  themselves  allied  in  defence  of  the  same 
cause  and  fighting  against  the  same  common  enemy. 
The  position  in  which  the  Irish  leader  found  himself  as 
arbiter  of  the  destinies  of  both  democracies  was  one  of 
singular  difficulty.  On  the  one  hand,  the  Budget  was 
most  unpopular  in  Ireland,  though  undoubtedly  one  of 
the  most  favourable  of  the  many  unpopular  Budgets, 
On  the  other  hand,  if  it  were  rejected  by  Ireland,  the 
Government,  defeated  upon  the  very  measure  upon 
which  they  had  appealed  to  the  country,  could  hardly 
proceed  to  demolish  the  authority  of  the  House  of 
Lords  for  a  verdict  which  the  people  had  endorsed. 
At  the  same  time,  the  whole  advantage  of  the  situation, 
as  far  not  only  as  Ireland  but  as  England  was  con- 
cerned, lay  in  curtailment  of  the  power  of  the  Lords 
which  the  acceptance  of  the  measure  by  the  new  House 
of  Commons  would  entail.  If  it  is  true,  therefore,  that 
John  Redmond's  power  was  never  greater,  it  is  true 
that  his  task  was  never  more  difficult,  a  difficulty  by 
no  means  lessened  by  the  action  of  Mr.  O'Brien  ;  and 
the  more  sympathetic  of  the  British  Press  quite 
appreciated  the  situation. 

"  He  is  in  possession,"  wrote  the  Westminster  of  Feb. 
nth,  "of  what  according  to  the  tradition  of  his  party 
is  the  prize  of  prizes  in  Parliamentary  warfare,  the 
power  of  ejecting  a  Government  by  transferring  his 
support    to    the    other    side.       It    looks    glittering    and 

333 


JOHN   REDMOND 

formidable,  yet  it  is  of  all  things  the  most  difficult  to 
use  for  any  practical  purpose.  Twice  has  it  come  into 
the  possession  of  an  Irish  leader,  and  twice  it  has 
passed  out  of  his  hands  without  having  earned  sub- 
stantial advantages  to  his  cause.  Now  it  comes  a  third 
time,  and  the  question  before  him  is  whether  a 
third  time  it  may  not  slip  out  of  his  hands  without 
being  used  to  any  practical   purpose." 

It  therefore  became  a  question  of  personal  capacity 
whether  there  would  be  any  advantage  reaped  from  the 
situation,  and  future  history  will  probably  ponder  on 
those  negotiations  and  tactics  which,  according  to  Sir 
John  Gorst,  have  proved  John  Redmond  the  ablest 
politician  of  his  times.  The  duel  between  Mr.  Asquith 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  Irish  leader  on  the  other  was 
full  of  the  greatest  interest,  the  one  knowing  that  his 
defeat  would  mean  the  driving  of  the  Liberal  party  into 
the  wilderness  for  years  and  years,  the  other  knowing 
equally  well  that  Home  Rule  fell  with  Liberalism.  The 
attitude  of  Mr.  William  O'Brien,  on  the  contrary,  was 
quite  the  opposite.  He  maintained  that  Home  Rule  was 
not  worth  the  Budget,  and  far  from  identifying  its 
success  with  Liberalism,  nearly  every  division  found  him 
in  the  Unionist  lobby.  He  believed  that  the  great  duty 
of  the  Irish  party  was  to  throw  out  the  Budget  and 
trust  to  the  Unionists.  "  It  is  rank  folly  to  talk  of  the 
prospect  of  the  Veto  passing,"  wrote  the  Cork  Accent  of 

334 


THE   PRESENT   POSITION 

Feb.  1 8th,  "and  it  is  the  supreme  interest  of  this  country 
to  oppose  the  Budget,  tooth  and  nail.  As  it  cannot  be 
passed  without  the  Irish  vote,  Mr.  Redmond  will  have 
been  guilty  of  a  shameful  breach  of  his  pledge  if  he 
connives  at  his  country's  robbery." 

That  John  Redmond  was  well  aware  of  the  effect  of 
the  Budget  in  Ireland  is  seen  from  his  continual 
negotiations  to  get  concessions  for  Ireland  ;  but 
throughout,  his  eye  was  fixed  on  the  greater  issue  ;  and 
it  was  for  this  reason  that  he  continually  made  his 
consent  to  allow  the  Budget  to  pass  "without  the 
alteration  of  a  single  comma "  dependent  upon  some 
sort  of  guarantee,  if  the  Prime  Minister  did  not  at  once 
proceed  with  the  Veto.  The  question  of  precedence 
thus  became  one  of  the  utmost  importance,  for  it  was 
only  natural  that,  in  the  game  of  give  and  take  which 
needs  must  come  into  every  conflict,  John  Redmond 
should  know  what  he  was  getting  in  exchange  for  his 
own  concessions  on  the  subject  of  the  Budget.  Provided 
the  guarantees  were  forthcoming,  he  was  quite  prepared 
to  come  to  some  agreement,  and  was  convinced  it  could 
be  made  as  tolerable,  at  least,  as  any  Budget  for  Ireland 
can  be  under  the  Act  of  Union.  "  Long  before  I  went 
to  Canossa,  to  use  Mr.  O'Brien's  phrase,"  said  John 
Redmond  at  Tipperary  early  in  April — "  long  before  Mr. 
O'Brien  went  with  Mr.  Healy  to  his  secret  interview 
with    the    Chancellor    of   the    Exchequer,    weeks    before 

335 


JOHN    REDMOND 

that  I  had  satisfied  myself  from  conversations  I  had 
had  with  Mr.  Lloyd  George  that  an  amicable  arrange- 
ment of  all  these  concessions  would  be  arrived  at  by 
the  Government."  The  concessions  referred  to  were 
those  on  spirits,  licence  duties,  land  taxes,  probate, 
stamp  duties  and  revaluation. 

But  the  Budget  he  looked  upon  as  a  great  weapon 
in  the  hands  of  the  Commons,  and  he  was  determined 
not  to  let  it  pass  till  the  Lords  had  accepted  the  Veto. 
"  It  was  the  greatest  constitutional  crisis  for  two 
hundred  years,"  he  maintained,  "and  it  must  end  either 
in  the  abolition  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Lords,  or 
the  re-establishment  of  their  power  for  the  rest  of 
the  people's  lifetime" — and  the  great  weapon  in  the 
hands  of  the  Commons  was  the  Budget,  and  hence  he 
called  upon  Mr.  Asquith  either  to  press  the  Veto  or 
resign. 

In  effect,  the  Irish  leader's  demand  was  this :  Mr. 
Asquith  must  make  a  definite  statement  that  if  the 
Lords  reject  the  Veto  resolutions  he  will  demand 
guarantees  from  the  King,  and  if  the  King  refuses,  he 
will  resign  office.  Also  that,  until  the  Lords  have 
passed  the  Veto  resolutions  or  the  King  has  given 
guarantees,  the  Budget  shall  not  be  allowed  to  leave 
the  House  of  Commons. 

For  above  all  things  a  dilatory  way  of  treating  with 
the  great    problem  was  to    be   avoided  at  any  cost,  and 

336 


THE   PRESENT  POSITION 

there  were  not   wanting   those   who    wished   to  postpone 
the  conflict  altogether. 

The  King's  Speech,  for  example,  had  neither  been 
emphatic,  clear,  nor  even  grammatical  upon  the  all- 
important  point  of  the  readjustment  of  the  authority 
of  the  two  Houses.  A  suggestion  of  the  internal  reform 
of  the  Lords  had  been  mooted,  but  as  the  Nation 
rightly  observed,  the  elections  had  not  been  fought  on 
the  reform  of  the  Lords,  but  upon  the  supremacy  of 
the  Commons,  and  for  this  John  Redmond  stuck  out, 
asking  that  the  Prime  Minister  should  ask  for  guarantees 
from  the  King  in  the  event  of  another  deadlock.  This 
Mr.  Asquith  refused  on  the  plea  that  he  wished  to 
keep  the  Sovereign  out  of  party  politics,  and  that  the 
King  could  hardly  be  asked  to  give  any  party  a 
blank  cheque.  The  retort  was  more  telling  than  true 
and  was  well  met  by  the  Irish  leader.  He  told  the 
Government  that  they  must  therefore  produce  a  Bill 
which,  if  rejected,  could  then  be  submitted  to  the 
Sovereign — but  that  the  Government  must  be  prepared  to 
give  some  assurances  before  the  Budget  was  passed. 

The  tension  of  the  moment  was  supreme,  but  early 
in  March  the  Prime  Minister  somewhat  relieved  it  by 
announcing  that  the  Government  had  adopted  the 
methods  for  the  destruction  of  the  Veto  commended 
by  the  Irish  leader,  of  first  introducing  resolutions  in 
the    Lords   and    the    Commons,     These    were    to    affirm 

337  22 


JOHN    REDMOND 

the  total  exclusion  of  the  Lords  from  finance,  the 
restriction  of  the  Veto  within  the  lifetime  of  one 
Parliament,  and  the  substitution  of  a  democratic  for  a 
hereditary  second  Chamber. 

The  appeal  to  the  Crown  upon  such  a  proposition 
could  no  longer  be  thought  unreasonable,  much  as  a 
certain  section  of  the  Conservative  Press  denounced  the 
passing  of  the  Budget  over  the  heads  of  the  British 
electorate  and  the  destroying  of  the  Constitution  at  the 
dictation  of  John  Redmond.  But  throughout,  the  Irish 
leader  spoke  as  a  House  of  Commons  man,  and  one 
as  deeply  versed  in  the  English  Constitution  as  any  of 
his  critics.  The  "  guarantee "  asked  for  was  at  root 
but  the  exercise  of  that  same  power  which  had 
triumphed  in  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832. 
Thus  Lord  Crewe,  speaking  of  the  power  of  the  Prime 
Minister  to  create  peers,  said,  "  If  a  deadlock  exists 
between  the  two  Houses,  and  the  country  has  clearly 
expressed  its  will,  the  Minister  of  the  day  is  entitled 
to  advise  the  Sovereign  to  create  a  sufficient  number  of 
peers  to  override  the  opposition  of  the  House,  and  I 
should  like  to  say — and  it  is  important  to  remember 
the  distinction — that  if  ever  such  an  occasion  does 
arise,  it  is  not  a  question  of  the  Minister's  going  to 
the  Sovereign  and  asking  the  Sovereign  to  create  a  certain 
number  of  peers  as  a  favour,  but  it  is  the  constitu- 
tional  exercise  of  the   power  of  advice   by   the   Minister 

338 


THE   PRESENT  POSITION 

to  the  Sovereign.  That  is  an  important  distinction,  and 
it  is  important  because  it  implies  this,  that  the  Minister 
has  no  right  to  give  this  advice  unless  he  is  prepared 
to  say   he  would  act  upon  it." 

This  power  of  the  Minister  might  at  first  sight  seem 
to  weaken  the  power  of  the  Crown ;  and  at  first,  indeed, 
the  cry  was  raised  against  the  Republicanism  of  John 
Redmond.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  would  really  strengthen 
it.     Thus  the  Nation  pointed  out  on  March  5th : 

"  The  Liberal  party  therefore  appeals  directly  to  the 
Crown,  and  says  with  respect  that  it  is  its  duty  and 
right  and  power  to  act  on  the  verdict  of  19 10,  when 
that  verdict  has  been  clearly  embodied  in  proceedings 
and  acts  of  the  House  of  Commons.  What,"  it  con- 
tinues, "  is  the  Crown  in  a  country  like  ours  ?  It  lives  by 
and  for  the  people.  The  future  of  the  monarchy  is 
absolutely  bound  up  with  the  democracy  .  .  .  our 
crowned  republic  rests  on  the  fact  that  even  if  some 
classes  regard  the  monarchy  as  a  stand-by  for  privilege 
and  property,  the  masses  also  accept  it  as  a  guarantee 
that  their  liberties  are  to  hold  and  that  progress  to 
further  franchises  is  not  to  be  barred.  If  we  appeal  to 
the  Crown,  therefore,  we  also  appeal  to  the  people." 

It  was  this  principle  for  which  John  Redmond  fought : 
essentially  constitutional,  loyal  and  modern,  and,  when 
the  last  word  has  been  said,  the  strongest  pillar  of  the 
Throne  ;  certainly  far  stronger  than  ever  the  authority  of 

339  22* 


JOHN   REDMOND 

the  Lords  could  make  it — the  only  one  if   the  Throne  is 
to  be  identified  with  progress. 

The  climax  of  the  whole  situation  was  reached 
towards  the  middle  of  April,  when  Mr.  Asquith,  after 
months  of  hesitation,  capitulated  and  brought  in  his 
resolutions.  "  We  feel  compelled  to  take  off  our  hat 
to  Mr.  Redmond,"  wrote  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette.  "  Red- 
mond is  King,"  wrote  the  Daily  Mail,  and  The  Times 
itself  admitted,    "  Redmond    is   the   real    master." 

"  Undoubtedly  the  statement  is  true,"  as  T.  P.  O'Connor 
wrote  in  the  Irish  World.  "  From  his  first  speech  to 
his  last  Mr.  Redmond  always  adhered  exactly  to  the 
same  demand — namely,  that  the  Premier,  Mr.  Asquith, 
should  ask  the  King  for  guarantees,  the  moment  the 
Commons  had  adopted  and  the  Lords  had  rejected  the 
Veto  resolutions,  to  pass  these  resolutions  by  the 
creation  of  enough  peers  of  Parliament,  and,  in  case 
the  request  was  refused,  that  Premier  Asquith  should 
follow  it  up  with  a  request  that  if  another  election 
were  demanded  he  should  go  to  the  election  with  the 
King's  guarantee  in  his  pocket  and  with  the  right 
to  announce  that  fact  to  the  people.  This  is  what 
Mr.  Asquith's  announcement  has  now  done.  It  is  almost 
word   for   word    Mr.    Redmond's   persistent   demand." 

The  actual  announcement  was  the  scene  of  the  wildest 
exultation,  the  members  of  the  Liberal  party  forget- 
ting  all    reserve   and   cheering,    waving  hats,   papers    and 

340 


THE   PRESENT   POSITION 

handkerchiefs  and  according  the  Premier  an  ovation  such 
as  was  "  never  given  before  except  once  or  twice  in  Mr. 
Gladstone's   most  magnificent  hours."      The  Tories,    how- 
ever, were  exasperated  and  shouted  back  to  the  Liberals — 
"  Why  don't  you  cheer  for  Redmond  ?"  and  to  the  Irish — 
"  Paid  by   America  !  "    and  it    was   only  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that    the  Irish  leader's  brother    could    be    held 
back    in  a   personal    onslaught    on   young    Lord    Winter- 
ton — "  the     most    ostentatious    insulter     of    the    Liberals 
and  the  Irish."     As  to  the  leader  himself,  men  rushed  from 
all  sides  of  the   House   to  shake  hands  with  him  and  con- 
gratulate   him    on    the    success  of  his  persevering  tactics. 
It    is   doubtful,    indeed,    if    either    O'Connell    or    Parnell 
ever  received  such  an  English  tribute,  and,  as  T.  P.  goes  on 
to    observe,    his  name    is    now    cheered    as    warmly     as 
Asquith's     or     Lloyd    George's     in     the     great    English 
gatherings    of    democracy.     In    spite     of     Mr.    Balfour's 
taunts,    "You    would  give    Home    Rule    to   the    Irish  as 
the  price  for   the    Veto  " — a  statement  which  is  singularly 
unhistoric     of    the    party    for    whom    Home    Rule     has 
been    the  damnosa  hereditas,  as  he   has   elsewhere  said — 
the    general    tendency    seems     to    be,    in    the    words    of 
Mr.  Winston    Churchill,    "  We   want     to    make   a  national 
settlement  with  Ireland." 

There  is  no  quarrel  with  the  Crown,  for  the  Crown  is 
held  of  the  people,  as  Mr.  Asquith  pointed  out — a  far  more 
secure  tenure  than  that  by  which  either  Tudor  or  Stuart 

341 


JOHN   REDMOND 

Sovereign  held  their  thrones.  It  is  Crown  and  Commons 
against  the  Lords — in  other  words,  democracy  against 
aristocracy — which  is  to  be  the  great  fight  of  the  new 
reign,  and  as  there  has  never  been  any  battle  between 
the  two  democracies  of  England  and  Ireland,  the  cause 
of  Home  Rule  must  inevitably  triumph  with  the  victory 
of  the  Commons  over  the  Lords. 

John  Redmond  stands  at  the  present  moment  as 
the  embodiment  of  English  and  Irish  democracy.  He 
stands  for  popular  government,  according  to  the  best 
traditions  of  English  history.  That  the  Veto  of  the 
Lords  should  survive  the  Veto  of  the  Crown  is  to  him 
an  anomaly  passing  comprehension.  That  he  is  there- 
fore disloyal  it  is  absurd  to  suppose,  for  he  is  endorsing 
the  English  instinct  from  Magna  Charta  to  the  Reform 
Bill.  Even  the  fact  that  there  has  been  no  official  act 
of  condolence  or  expression  of  sympathy  from  the  Irish 
party  on  the  death  of  King  Edward,  than  whom  there 
has  not  been  a  more  sympathetic  Sovereign  towards 
Ireland  since  James  II.,  proves  nothing,  though  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette  referred  to  the  fact  as  the  "one 
jarring  note."  "  When  it  is  borne  in  mind,"  it  wrote, 
"that  Mr.  Redmond  and  his  party  are  at  this  very 
moment  demanding  from  Great  Britain  in  the  most 
menacing  and  arrogant  way  a  great  boon,  their  indiffer- 
ence to  British  feeling  becomes  an  insolence  which  a 
proud  people  will  deeply   resent.      Yet    Mr.  Redmond    is 

342 


THE   PRESENT   POSITION 

perfectly  consistent.  He  has  never,  save  in  one  or  two 
attempts  which  have  been  too  clumsy  to  convince  any- 
one, attempted  to  win  Home  Rule  by  persuasion  or  loyal 
assurances." 

It  is  true  that  a  graceful  tribute  from  the  Irish  leader 
would  have  done  more  than  anything  to  win  popular 
sympathy  in  England  ;  at  the  same  time,  it  would  be 
entirely  out  of  keeping  with  the  traditions  of  the 
Nationalist  party  to  recognize  in  any  way  officially  the 
Sovereign  until  the  restitution  of  the  Home  Parliament, 
so  unconstitutionally  taken  away,  has  once  more  made 
him  constitutional  in  Ireland.  Personally,  probably  every 
single  member  of  the  party  loved  and  appreciated  the 
efforts  of  the  late  King.  Over  and  over  again  in  his 
speeches  has  the  Irish  leader  given  expression  to  this 
sentiment.  It  is  not  loyalty  withdrawn  but  postponed  ; 
and  if  resentment  is  felt  it  can  hardly  have  juster  founda- 
tions than  the  resentment  of  a  nation  at  the  loss  of  an 
autonomy  that  has  cost  it  millions  in  population. 

It  is  said  that  King  Edward  VII.  was  himself  a  Home 
Ruler  and  had  made  it  the  ambition  of  his  life  not  to 
hand  on  to  his  successor  with  the  English  Crown  the 
burden  of  Irish  discontent  which  he  had  inherited  from 
his  ancestors.  It  may  be  true  and  it  may  not,  but  if 
purely  a  fiction,  it  expresses  a  general  feeling  for  a 
rapprocJiement  which  is  entirely  reciprocated  by  the 
Irish  leader.      The    next    reign    will    probably    settle    the 

343 


JOHN    REDMOND 

great  grievance.  If  it  does,  it  will  see  the  return  of 
that  loyalty  for  which  the  Irish  shed  their  blood  in 
the  days  of  the  Stuarts,  and  the  words  of  the  Freeman 
probably  echoed  the  sentiments  of  John  Redmond 
when  in  a  leading  article  it  said  : 

"  He,  George  V.,  like  King  Edward,  has  travelled  over 
the  world.  He  has  been  through  all  the  self-governing 
possessions  of  the  Crown.  He  has  had  abundant 
opportunities  of  learning  the  blessings  which  Home  Rule 
brings  to  the  people  and  the  Colonies.  .  .  .  His  public 
career  may  be  said  to  have  been  thus  far  closely 
identified  with  the  growth  and  recognition  and  realization 
of  the  Home  Rule  idea  and  principle  within  the  Empire. 
It  is  not  very  far-fetched  to  imagine  that  he  has 
assimilated  the  lessons  thus  inculcated.  It  will  be  no 
new  thing  to  him  should  he  before  long  be  called 
upon  to  open  our  Irish  Parliament  in  person.  Such  a 
great  act  of  State  will  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
greatest  public  duties  he  has  hitherto  discharged.  And 
we  can  promise  him,  when  that  joyful  occasion  brings 
him  to  Dublin,  the  first  honestly  Irish  reception  an 
English   monarch    has    ever   had    here." 


344 


INDEX 


Abercorn,  Duke  of,  171. 

America,  United  States  of,  Red- 
mond's speeches  in,  23,  27,  37,  39, 
40,  52  ;  Redmond  in  New  York, 
79  ;  and  Parnell's  death,  80 ; 
Redmond  invited  to  visit,  123, 
126 ;  Redmond  sails  for,  163  ; 
Irish  in,  282  ;  Lord  North  and, 
294. 

Amnesty,  Gladstone  and,  101  ;  Red- 
mond on,  102  ;  Morley  on,  102. 

Annual  Register,  The,  66,  168. 

Armstrong,  G.  R.,  161. 

Asquith,  Right  Hon.  H.  H.  makes 
his  name,  87  ;  his  Liberalism,  185  ; 
becomes  Premier,  218  ;  his  ap- 
proval of  Gladstonian  policy,  218- 
9  ;  Stead  on,  273  ;  and  the  Albert 
Hall  pledge,  332  ;  and  the  veto, 
336-7,  340. 

Aston,  Capt.  Thomas,  4. 

Aughavanagh,  251. 

Australia,  Redmond's  mission  to,  36  ; 
Sir  Henry  Parkes'  attempt  to  expel 
Redmond  from,  38 ;  New  South 
Wales,  37  ;  Sydney,  38;  Melbourne, 
39,  43  ;  Parliament's  address  on 
Home  Rule,  217-8,  281. 

B. 

Balfour,  Right  Hon.  A.  J.,  166,  246, 
341  ;     welcomes    Redmond    from 


imprisonment,  50  ;  and  Redmond's 
imprisonment,  102,  230  ;  and  Irish 
education,    119;    and    Redmond's 
power,  135;    on  land  tenure,  169, 
170 ;    and  the    Irish  Universities, 
198,  202,  205  ;  and  his  resignation, 
1 80- 1  ;  and  the  Local  Government 
Act,  260. 
Ballytrent  House,  9. 
Barry,  Dr.,  250. 
Barry,  Judge,  12. 
Bawne,  Archbishop,  191. 
Bell,  Professor,  12,  17,  237. 
Bernhardt,  Sarah,  246. 
Birrell,  Right  Hon.    Augustine,  199, 

209,  210. 
Blake,  Mr.,  122,  125. 
Botha,  General,  227. 
Boulanger,  General,  112. 
Boulogne,  Negotiations  at,  63,  ei  sqq. 
Bourne,      Francis,     Archbishop      of 

Westminster,  191. 
Bradlaugh,  Charles,  III. 
Brand,  Sir  Henry,  30. 
Brennan,  Sir  Thomas,  36. 
Bright,  John,  170. 
Brooks,  Sydney,  312. 
Bryce,  Right   Hon.  James,  199,  206, 

208,  et  sqq. 
Burke,  Edmund,   93,   153,  238,  240, 

247. 
Burke,  Father  Tom,  250. 
Burke,  Thomas,  35. 
Butler,  Sir  William,  231. 


345 


INDEX 


Butt,  Isaac,  Redmond  on,  25  ;  his 
methods,  119;  Redmond  compared 
with,  257,  287  ;  as  a  leader,  299, 
300,  303,  328. 

Byron,  Lord,  13,  237. 


Conventions,  Irish  National,  173  ;  on 

Irish  Councils  Bill,  212. 
Coote,  Sir  A.,  178. 
Cork  Accent,  The,  334. 
Costigan,  Hon.  John,  164. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  4,  5. 
Crook,  W.  M.,  241,  246. 
Curran,  J.  P.  297. 


D- 


Cadogan,  George,  fifth  Earl  of,  19S. 

Cameron,  Mgr.  195. 

Campbell,  Henry,  63. 

Campbell-Bannerman,    Sir     H.,    his  Daily  Chronicle,  The,  133,  181,  193. 

leadership  of  the  Opposition,  135-  Daily  Mail,  The,  340. 

6  ;  and  Home  Rule,  166,    186,   216  Daily  News,  128. 

etsqq.  Daily  Tek^-aph,  The,  134. 

Canada,    its    position    in    1S39,  42  ;  Dalton,  James,  40. 

compared  with  Ireland,  92-3  ;  her  Dalton,    Johannah,    see    Mrs.    John 

Parliament  and  Home  Rule,  163-4,  Redmond. 


328-9;    Chamberlain     and,     164; 

Roman  hierarchy  in,  193. 
Capel,  Mgr.  201. 
Carey,  James,  37. 
Carson,  Sir  Edward,  179. 
Cavendish,    Lord    Frederick,  35,  37, 

40. 
Chamberlain,     Right     Hon.    Joseph 

and  Redmond's  American  speeches. 


Dalton,  Michael,  40. 

Davitt,  Michael,  84,  108,  153,196; 
his  arrest,  31  ;  Australian  mission 
described  by,  36 :  opposes  Red- 
mond, 77  ;  and  Healy,  105  :  and 
clerical  interference,  113;  and 
reunion,  122. 

Deakin,  Hon.  Alfred.  281. 

De  Freyne,  Lord,  168,  171. 


40,  160  ;   and   Redmond  in  Home       Devonshire,  Duke  of,  119,  120. 
Rule  debate,  88,  92-3  ;  and  supre-       Devereux,  Mr.,  6. 


macy,  97  ;  and  Canadian  address  on 

Home  Rule,  164. 
Chapman,  Hon   Austin,  M.P.,  28r. 
Charles  I.,  30. 
Churchill,  Lord  Randolph,  108,  H2, 

198. 
Churchill,  Winston,  341. 
Churchtown,  Monastery  at,  4. 
Clancy,  J.  J.,  63,  176,  241. 
Clare  Lord,  297. 
Clemenceau,  248. 

Clongowes  College,  \\,  et  sqq.,  236. 
Coercion  Bill,  The,  25,  27,  35,  48. 
Committee  Room    No.    Fifteen,  51, 

54,  56,  58. 


De  Wet,  General,  139,  227. 

Dillon,  John,  132  ;  and  Davitt's 
arrest,  31,  232;  and  Boulogne 
negotiations,  65 ;  and  Parnell's 
death,  71,  74  ;  opposes  Redmond, 
81,  125,  222  ;  and  land  agitation, 
10 1  ;  election  to  party  leadership, 
n6  ;  resigns  leadership,  121  ;  and 
Maynooth,  133  ;  his  sincerity,  134  ; 
and  the  Coronation,  159 ;  and 
Balfour,  181  ;  and  Catholicism, 
190  ;  on  Redmond's  policy,  219. 

Dilnot,  Frank,  254,  258. 

Disraeli  Benj.  (Earl  of  Beaconsfield), 
243.  289. 


346 


INDEX 


Duffy,  Sir  Charles  Gavan,  122. 
Dunraven,  Earl  of,   172,  174-S,  178, 
199,  206 

E. 

Edward  VII.,  King,  154,  157  et 
s,]q.,  166-7,  194-5.  33'.  336-7.  342 
tt  sqq. 

Emmet,  Robert,  234. 

Emmet,  Thomas  A.,  80. 

Errington,  Mr.,  109 

Evening  Neivs,  The,  228,  234. 

Everard,  Col.  Nugent,  172. 

F. 

Fegan,  Father,  15. 

Fingall,  Earl  of,  176. 

Fitzgerald,  Lord  Edward,  6,  41. 

Fitzpatrick,  Rev.  John,  122. 

Fitzwilliam,  Lord,  95. 

Flavin,  Alderman,  76. 

Forster,  Right  Hon.  W.  A.,  34. 

Fortnightly  Review,  The,  27,  330. 

Fox,  Right  Hon.  C.  J.,  153,  295,  299. 

Freeman's  Journal,  The,   68-9,   103, 

124-S,  156,  184,  284,  344. 
Freys,  S.  H.,  160. 
Froude,  J.  A.,  293. 
Fulford,  George  T.,  193. 
Furlong,  Father,  26. 

G. 

Gannon  John,  13. 

Garibaldi,  General,  102. 

George  V.,  344. 

George,  Right  Hon.  Lloyd,  336,  341. 

Gilbert,  Sir  William,  255. 

Gladstone,  Right  Hon.  W.  E.,  42, 
100,  184,  229,  271  ;  in  possession 
of  the  House  31  ;  and  Redmond's 
Land  Bill,  34 ;  his  first  Home 
Rule  Bill,  45  ;  his  letter  on  Par- 
nell's  leadership,  52 ;  Morley's 
life  of,  55  ;  Redmond  describes  his 


deputation  to,  59  et  sqq.  ;  his 
sympathy  with  Nationalist  party, 
73 ;  his  second  Home  Rule  Bill, 
78-9,  84  et  sqq.,  88  ;  and  the  Irish, 
loi  ;  resignation  of,  103  ;  and  the 
Irish  champions,  128  ;  and  Par- 
nell's  personality,  137  ;  and  Irish 
University,  198;  and  Irish  "in- 
discretions," 235  ;  compared  to 
Fox,  29s,  299,  301. 

Globe,  The,  160. 

Gorst,  Sir  John,  334. 

Grattan  Henry,  95,  186,  257,  289, 
294-S.  297  et  sqq.,  328. 

Gray's  Inn,  44. 

Greville  Charles,  109. 

Gros,  Lady  Basilea  le,  3. 

Gros,  Raymond  le,  2,  3. 

Guardian,   The,  119. 

H. 

Haldane,  Right  Hon.  Richard,  184. 

Hamilton,  Lady,  112. 

Hampden,  Viscount,  see  Sir  Henry 
Brand. 

Harcourt,  Sir  William,  104. 

Harrington,  T.  C,  124,  133,  157,  165. 

Hayden,  Mr.,  165. 

Healy,  Father,  255. 

Healy,  Thomas,  124,  133-4,  151,  165. 

Healy,  T.  M.,  55,  122,  254;  and 
Redmond's  election,  21-2  ;  and 
deputation  to  Gladstone,  60-1  ;  he 
attacks  Parnell,  66-7  ;  opposes  dis- 
tribution of  seats  in  election,  8r  ; 
his  fidelity  to  Parnell,  82  ;  and 
party  protests,  105;  political  ostra- 
cism of,  116;  supports  Redmond 
in  unity  negotiations,  123  ;  as  a 
leader,  133  ;  Daily  Chronicle  on, 
134  ;  disagreement  with  Redmond, 
221-2  ;  Redmond  on,  260  ;  inter- 
view with  Chancellor  of  tlie 
Exchequer,  335. 


347 


INDEX 


Henry  II.,  3. 

Higgins,  Mr.,  279,  281. 

Hill,  Lord  Arthur,  94. 

Hoey,  General,  9,  231. 

Home  Rule  Bill  (1886),  44-5,  117. 

Home  Rule  Bill  (1893),  77  >?'  ^'I'l-^ 

88  et  sqq.,  1 00  et  sqq. 
Howard,  Louis  G.,  9. 
Howard,  Mrs.  L.  G.,  253. 
Howard,  L.  B.  Redmond,  253. 
Hughes,  Sir  Frederick,  6. 
Hughes,  Rev.  Hugh  Price,  52. 

I. 

Ireland,  History  of,  i  et  sqq.  ;  in- 
vasion of  by  English,  2-4 ;  re- 
bellion of,  98  ;  uncrowned  King 
of,  138  ;  Parliament  of,  291. 

Irish  Financial  Reform  League,  118. 

Irish  Land  Bill,  166-7,  i7i>  i73- 

Irish  National  League,  39,  78. 

Irish  People,  The,  132. 

Irish  Unity  Conference,  120. 

Irish  World,  The,  313,  340. 

Isaacs,   Hon.  Isaac  A.,  281. 

J. 

James  II.,  342. 

Jordan,  Jeremiah,  m.p.,  124. 

K. 

Kane,  Father,  12  et  sqq.,  18. 
Kenmare,  Earl  of,  176. 
Kenny,  Dr.,  1 15. 
Kilmainham  Treaty,  34,  140. 
Kruger,  President,  153. 


Land  Bill,  The,  34. 
Land  Conference,  174-5,  ^77 • 
Land  League,  22,  39,  163,  169. 
Land  Purchase  Act,  180. 


Lansdowne,  Lord,  179,  205. 
Laurier,  Sir  Wilfrid,  109,    163,   188, 

192-3,  278. 
Leamy,  E.,  61. 
Lecky,  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  H.,  293-4, 

298. 
Leo  XIII.,  201. 
Lever,  Charles,  255. 
Loftus,  Sir  Nicholas,  5. 
Logue,  Cardinal,  321. 
Londonderry,  Marquis  of,  86,  176. 
Long,  Right  Hon.  Walter,  180. 
Longmore,  Hon.  Francis,  43. 
Louis  XIV.  of  France,  in. 
Lover,  Samuel,  255. 
Lucy,  Sir  Henry,  87. 
Lynch,  Rev.  P.,  156. 
Lyne,  Sir  William,  281. 
Lynn,  Judge,  80. 

M. 

Madge,  W.  T.,  162. 

McCarthy,  Mr.  Justin,  71,  125,  312; 
on  Redmond's  father,  7  ;  on 
Redmond  as  whip,  32-3 ;  on 
Redmond  and  Parnell,  54  et  sqq.', 
and  the  Committee  Room  P'ifteen 
discussion,  62;  elected  chairman, 
65;  on  reunion,  115;  resigns 
chairmanship,  116;  his  love  of 
literature,  133  ;  and  clericalism, 
248. 

MacDermot,  The,  K.C.,  176. 

MacDonnell,    Antony  Lord,    177    et 
sqq.,  205,  209,  210. 

McDonnell,  F.  J.,  169. 

MacSweeny,  Marquis,  195. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  8,  201,  250. 

Mayo,  Earl  of,  172,  198. 

Meath,  Bishop  of,  67. 

Meynell,  Mr.  Wilfred,  20. 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  170. 

Mirabeau,  113. 

Moore,  Thomas,  236,  239,  252. 

548 


INDEX 


Morley,  John  Viscount,   55,   58,  95, 

102,  113,  185-6. 
Mountjoy,  Lord,  244. 
Mun,  Comte  de,  326. 

N. 

Napoleon,  i,  6,  138. 
Nation,  The,  337,  339. 
Nelson,  Horatio  Lord,  112. 
Newman,  Cardinal,  250. 
Nineteenth  Century,  The,  84. 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,  114,  201. 
North,  Lord,  294,  309. 
Nulty,  Bishop,  no. 

o. 

O'Brien,  Barry,  62  ;  on  Redmond's 
reception  in  colonies,  38 ;  on 
Anti-Parnellite  policy,  60;  and 
Boulogne  negotiations,  61  ;  and 
clericalism,  69  ;  his  "  Hundred 
Years  of  Irish  History,"  289,  291  ; 
his  "  Dublin  Castle,"  307. 

O'Brien,  Mr.  Justice,  112. 

O'Brien,  William,  m.p.,  159,  222, 
260 ;  and  Boulogne  negotiations, 
63  et  sqq.  ;  on  Redmond,  76;  and 
Healy,  81;  and  Gladstone,  100 ; 
and  United  Irish  League,  122,  164  ; 
his  powers  of  organization,  133 ; 
and  the  Land  Conference,  171-2; 
on  Council's  Bill,  205  ;  leads  new 
party,  215,  331  ;  prosecuted  for 
conspiracy,  232  ;  and  Home  Rule 
from  Unionists,  334. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  69,  222,  238,  263, 
319,  341  ;  and  the  Clongowes 
Debating  Society,  15  ;  clericalism, 
109,  194 ;  Redmond  compared 
with,  248-9,  257  ;  opinions  of,  300 ; 
his  address  to  Queen  Victoria,  302. 

O'Connor,  T.  1'.,  34,  81-2,  216 
et  sqq.,  340. 


O'Dea,  Dr.,  327. 

O'Donnell,    Frank    H.,    133-4,     200 

et  sqq.,  2 1 4,  299. 
O'Donnell,  John,  165. 
O'Donnell,  Nicholas,  279,  281. 
O'Donovan,  James,  265, 
O'Kelly,  Conor,  165. 
O'Neill,  Roy,  41. 
O'Reilly,  Boyle,  39. 
O'Shea,  Mrs.,  67  et  sqq.,  80,  140. 
Oxford  Magazine,  The,  241. 

P. 

Palles,  Lord  Chief,  177. 

Pall  Mall  Gazette,  The,  340,  342. 

Parkes,  Sir  Henry,  37-8. 

Parnell,       Charles       Stewart,      and 
Redmonds'      nomination,      21-2; 
Redmond  sheds  his  blood  for,  23  ; 
raises  new  party,  23  et  sqq. ;  wires 
for     Redmond,     27-8  ;      appoints 
Redmond  whip,  33;  and  Redmond's 
oratory,  34 ;   and  the  Kilmainham 
treaty,  34 ;  and  the  Phoenix  Park 
murders,    35,   39 ;  sends  Redmond 
to   colonies,    36 ;     crisis   of,    and 
Redmond,  51  ;  Redmond's  loyalty 
to,   52,   56,  59,  66,   127  ;  trial  of, 
54-5  ;  and  independence  of   party, 
57  ;  sacrifice  of,  58  ;  and  his  inter- 
view with  Gladstone,  61  ;  and  the 
debate  in  Room  Fifteen,  62,  85;  and 
the   negotiations  at  Boulogne,  63 
et  sqq.  ;    Healy's  attitude  toward, 
66 ;  clerical  opinion  on  retention 
of,    67 ;     his    marriage    to    Mrs. 
O'Shea,    68  ;    Freeman  s  Journal 
secedes  from,  69  ;  and  clericalism, 
70 ;     his    death     and    burial,     70 
et     sqq..      108  ;       succeeded      by 
Redmond,    73,  76,   96,    127,    132 ; 
his      murderers,      74 ;     American 
sympathy  with,  80  ;  anniversary  of 
his  death,  105  et  sqq.,  125  ;    IVeekly 


349 


INDEX 


Parnell,  Charles  Stewart — con. 
Register  on,  113;  return  to  policy 
of,  124  et  sqq.  ;  compared  to 
Redmond,  11,6  et  sqq.  ;  231,  286; 
his  duality  of  character,  229  ;  his 
shooting  lodge  taken  by  Redmond, 
251  ;  his  bitterness,  257  ;  his  aloof- 
ness, 259  ;  his  diplomacy,  267  ; 
G.  B.  Shaw  on  the  1886  Home 
Rule  Bill,  304. 

Parnellites,  87 ;  their  tactics  and 
demands,  80,  83  ;  fight  the  Church, 
82;  Redmond  on  failure  of,  84;  and 
Catholicism,  no;  in  New  York, 
125  ;  Redmond  on  reunion  of,  148  ; 
demands  of,  299,  320. 

Paul,  Herbert,  87,  247,  320. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  198. 

Pembroke,  Earl  of  (Strongbow),  2,  3. 

Pepper,  Rev.  George,  37. 

Phoenix  Park  Murders,  The,  35,  37-8, 

51.  154- 
Philips,  Wendel,  24. 
Pigott,  Richard,  140, 
Pitt,  William,  153,  289,295,  298-9. 
Pius  X.,  194  et  sqq.,  326. 
Plunkett,    Right  Hon.    Sir    Horace, 

115,  156,  312  et  sqq. 
Plunkett,  Lord,  297. 
Poe,  Col.  Hutchinson,  172,  178. 
Power,  M.P.,  Mr.  P.  J.,  124. 
Power,  Mr.  R.,  31. 
Power,  Mr.  W.,  252. 
Power,  Mrs.  W.,  252. 
Punch,  184,  255,  331. 

R. 

Reform  Association,  Irish,  177. 
Redmond,  Alexander,  4. 
Redmond,  Esther,  see  Mrs.  Power. 
Redmond,  Father  Frances,  6. 
Redmond,  General,  2. 
Redmond,  Johanna,  252. 
Redmond,  Sir  John,  4. 


Redmond,  John  Edward,  his  ancestry, 
I  et  sqq.,  247  ;  his  birth,  9  ;  his 
county,  10- 1 1 ;  his  life  at  Clongowes 
College,  II  et  sqq.  ;  studying  for 
the  Bar,  18  et  sqq.  ;  asked  to  repre- 
sent Wexford,  21  ;  joins  the  Land 
League,  22  ;  becomes  candidate  for 
New  Ross,  22 ;  first  links  with 
Parnell,  23  ;  elected  member  for 
New  Ross,  25  et  sqq. ;  first  acquaint- 
ance with  the  House  of  Commons, 
28  et  sqq.;  suspension  and  expulsion, 
30  et  sqq.  ;  as  whip,  32  ;  as  speaker 
and  organizer,  33-4 ;  and  the 
Phoenix  Park  murders,  35  et  sqq.  ; 
his  marriage,  40  ;  his  American 
speeches,  41-2  ;  his  Melbourne 
speech  on  Home  Rule,  43-4  ;  called 
to  the  Bar,  44 ;  charged  with 
intimidation,  46  ;  his  denial,  47-8  ; 
his  imprisonment,  49-50  ;  and  the 
O'Shea  affair,  51  et  sqq.,  80;  his 
devotion  to  Parnell,  55  et  sqq.,  66, 
76;  and  the  deputation  to  Gladstone, 
60  et  sqq.  ;  goes  to  Boulogne  with 
Parnell,  63  ;  proceedings  at 
Boulogne,  63  et  sqq.  ;  and  Parnell's 
death,  70  et  sqq.  ;  puts  up  for  Cork, 
76 ;  his  defeat,  77  ;  elected  for 
Waterford  City,  77  ;  declares  the 
Parnellite  policy,  78-9,  83  ;  goes  to 
New  York,  79  ;  his  speech  at  New 
York  Academy  of  Music,  80  et  sqq.; 
and  Gladstone's  policy,  84  et  sqq. ; 
his  great  speech  in  the  House,  86 
et  sqq.  ;  Press  opinions  of,  89,  129, 
133  et  sqq.,  163,  334,  340  ;  aiid  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  89,  92-3,  160- 1  ;  and 
the  Irish  priesthood,  90  et  sqq.  ; 
defines  his  Home  Rule  policy,  94 
etsqq.,  104,  115;  and  evicted  tenants, 
100  ;  and  political  prisoners,  101-2  ; 
and  Gladstone's  resignation,  103  ; 
and   the     anniversary  of    Parnell's 


350 


INDEX 


death,  105-6  ;  and  the  Bishops,  108 
et  sqq.;   proposes  "Association  of 
Independent    Nationalists,"     117; 
and  the  Financial  Relations  Com- 
mission, 118  ;  and  the  Irish  Unity 
Conference,  120  et  sqq.  ;  invitation 
to  New  York,  123  ;  visits  America, 
125,    163  ;  and   the  South   African 
War,  126,  129  et  sqq.,  150  et  sqq.  ; 
leads  the  reunited  party,  127  et  sqq.; 
compared  with  Parnell,  137  et  sqq.; 
his    manifesto,    143    et    sqq. ;     and 
Queen  Victoria's  visit  to  Ireland 
155  ;  and  King  Edward's  Corona- 
tion, 157  et  sqq.  ;  and  Irish  Educa- 
tion,  165,  176,  179,  l?,()et  sqq.,  20I 
et  sqq.  ;  and    the    Land    Bill,    166 
et  sqq.  ;    contest   between    Balfour 
and,    181  ;  and   the  Liberals,    183 
et  sqq.  ;  speech  at    Glasgow,    184  ; 
Punch    cartoon    and,    184  ;    Lord 
Morley  and,  185-6;  and  the  National 
movement,  188-9  !  letter  from  Arch- 
bishop   of    Westminster    to,    191  ; 
interview   with    Pius     X.,    194-5; 
letter   from    Pius      X.     to,     196  ; 
and     the     New    Irish    University, 
197   et  sqq.  ;  on    denominational- 
ism,     200 ;      on     half     measures, 
205  ;  and  the  Chief  Secretaryship, 
208-9  ■>  ^nd  the  Irish  Councils  Bill, 
211  et  sqq.  ;  and  his  critics,  214-5  ; 
Campbell-Bannerman's  support  of, 
217-8;   Asquith    supports,    218-9; 
account   of   his   stewardship,    220, 
223;  contest  with  Healy,  221  ;  and 
Home  Rule  for  England,  224  ;  and 
House  of  Lords,  225  ;  his  wish  for 
peace,  226-7  !  3-s  a  man,  228  et  sqq. ; 
his    story    of     Parnell,    229 ;    his 
religion  and  politics,  233  ;  his  love 
of   literature,    236 ;   as   an   orator, 
237,  240 ;  his  Celtic  characteristics, 
237-8 ;   on    England,   238   et   sqq. 


his  loyalty  and  patriotism,  241-2; 
and    the     Irish     Colonies,      244  ; 
his     cosmopolitanism,    246 ;     his 
Catholicism,  247  et  sqq.  ;  his  quiet 
tastes,     250    et    sqq.  ;    his    family 
circle,  252-3  ;  his  sense  of  humour, 
254  et  sqq.  ;  compared  with  former 
leaders,  257  ;  his  self-restraint,  259, 
his  knowledge  of  the  House,  259, 
260  ;  and  his  methods,  261  et  sqq,  ; 
his  practicality,    261  et  sqq.  ;    his 
ideal      Parliament,     262  ;     as     an 
agitator  and  organizer,  264-5  '■>  ^"'^ 
the    United    Irish  League,    266-7, 
314  et  sqq.  ;  and  the  Irish    Party, 
268    et    sqq.  ;    and     the     English 
Constitution,      274-5  '■>     ^^^      '^he 
colonies,  278  et  sqq.  ;    G.  B.  Shaw 
on,    285   et   sqq.  ;    and    the    Irish 
demand,    289   et   sqq.  ;    on    Early 
Irish  Parliaments,  291  et  sqq.  ;    his 
demands  for  Ireland,   298  et  sqq.  ; 
on    the   necessity  for  Home    Rule, 
306  et  sqq.,  328  et  sqq.  ;  his  mission, 
311  et  sqq  ;  repudiates  intolerance, 
319 ;    his    moderation,    326 ;     his 
present  position,  331  et  sqq.  ;   and 
the  Budget,  335-6  ;  his  democracy, 
342 ;   and    King    Edward's  death, 

342-3- 
Redmond,  Mrs.  John,  40,  46,  243. 
Redmond,  Patrick  Walter,  7. 
Redmond,  Walter,  7. 
Redmond,     William     Archer    (John 

Redmond's  father),  7    et  sqq.,   14, 

16,  21. 
Redmond,     Capt.      William      Hoey 

Kearney  (John  Redmond's  brother), 

9,  22,  34,  37,  40,  63,  254,  256. 
Redmond,  William  (John  Redmond's 

son),  253. 
Register,  The  Weekly,  113, 
Rosebery,  Earl  of,  103,  167,  254. 
Rossmore,  Lord,  178. 


351 


INDEX 


Ross,    New,    Redmond  elected  for, 

22-5. 
Russell,  George,  241-2. 
Russell  of  Killowen,  Lord,  20. 
Russell,  Lord  John,  170. 
Russell,  T.  W.,  165,  172. 

s. 

Salisbury,  Marquis  of,  86,  117,  157. 
Saunderson,  Col.  173,  176,  312,  321, 

323- 

Scully,  Vincent,  63. 

Sexton,  Thomas,  55,  59  et  sqq. 

Shakespeare,  236,  239,  246-7. 

Shaw,  G.  Bernard,  his  preface  to 
"  John  Bull's  Other  Island,"  285  ^< 
sqq. ;  on  military  rule,  309;  on  Home 
Rule  and  clericalism,  323  et  sqq. 

Shaw,  William,  25. 

Shawe-Taylor,  Capt.  17 1,  178. 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  13,  237. 

South  African  War,  126  ;  128  et  sqq.  ; 
150  et  sqq. 

Southwell,  Arthur  Low,  178. 

Speaker,  The,  129,  131. 

Spencer,  Earl,  35. 

Stead,  W.  T.,  135,  194,  209,  273,  282. 

Stoneyhurst  College,  8. 

Sullivan,  Sir  Arthur,  255. 

Sullivan,  A.  M.,  31. 

Sullivan,  T.  D.,  74. 

Swift,  Jonathan,  238. 

T. 

Tablet,  The,  8. 
Talbot -Crosbie,  D.,  178. 
Talbot-Crosbie,  S.,  178. 
Times,    The,   on  Redmond   and    the 
Phuenix    Park  murders,   35-6 ;    on 


political  prisoners,  102  ;  on  Parnell 
anniversary,  107  ;  on  reunion  of 
Irish  party,  120 ;  on  Redmond  as 
new  leader,  129  ;  on  Redmond  at 
the  Coronation,  158;  and  Parnellism 
and  crime,  160;  on  Redmond's 
dictatorship,  340. 

Tone,  Wolf,  41. 

Treaty  of  Peace,  172. 

Tyrrell,  Father  George,  250. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin,  18,  175-6. 

u. 

United  Ireland,  74. 

United  Irish  League,  122,  142,  149, 

162,    164   et  sqq.,  173,    190,  265  et 

sqq.,  282,  314-5. 

V. 

Victoria,  Queen,  49,  154  et  sqq.,  234, 
256,  302. 

w. 

Walker,  Capt.  46-7. 

Walsh,  Dr.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin, 

67-8,  71,  165,  322. 
Walsh,  Edward,  46. 
Walshe,  J,  W.,  37. 
Ward,  Wilfred,  250. 
Watson,  M.P.,  Mr.,  281. 

Weekly  Register,  The,  20,  112. 
Weldon,  Sir  A.,  178. 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  224. 

Westminster  Gazette,  The,  333. 

Wexford  People,  The,  46. 
Wordsworth,  William,  237. 
Wyndham,  Right  Hon.  George,  150, 
165,  167,  171,  173,  180,  260. 


Printed  at  The  Chapel  River  Press,  Kingston,  Surrey. 


Date  Due 

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MAR  1 

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Author  T  1.      T3   J        J 
John  Redmond 

Title 

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